I am so excited to once again be chatting with Singer Songwriter Charlene Oliver who is known for singing her global hit song, "I've Never Been To Me," written by Ron Miller and featured in one of my favorite movies, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.

I first spoke with Charlene in February 2020, just before the world shutdown due to the global pandemic.

I am thrilled to be catching up with Charlene today!

In this NEW interview, Charlene once again answered my call, but this time around she shares:

• Being the first white female singer signed to Motown Records
• Her musical journey with "I've Never Been To Me"
• Finding the strength to leave her first husband
• Having her book Orphan Train in the Library of Congress
• So much more

Connect with Charlene: Facebook

More Charlene Oliver Interviews:

2020 (Read Here): I've Never Been To Me

Charlene Oliver

More on Charlene Oliver:

Charlene Oliver always knew she wanted to be a singer, from her childhood in Hollywood in the late 1950s, one of two sisters in a loving family of Italian/American origin. 

At the age of 16, she met and fell in love with a California guitarist called Larry—and to the horror of her parents, she dropped out of school and moved in with him. Not much more than a year later, she was married and pregnant with Larry's child. Life with Larry was a rollercoaster. They couldn't afford to keep their child, Chadney, and she went to live with Larry's parents. Charlene's life alternated from parties with Brian Wilson to poverty, physical abuse, and the violent effects of Larry's increasing drug addiction.

Charlene's first break came with the offer to join Petula Clark's backing singers at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. Before long, she was auditioning in front of legendary Motown boss Berry Gordy and to her joy, being signed, the first ever white female singer to be signed to the label.

Her first song, "All That Love Went To Waste," came out in 1974, followed by two albums on the Motown label. These were the heady years of parties with Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder, and all the other great Motown names. Then writer Ron Miller persuaded Charlene to record his song, "I've Never Been To Me," in 1977, but the single only just scraped into the Top100.

Charlene's career seemed to be stalling and by the early 1980s, she had left the US to move to her second husband Jeff's home in Essex, England, where she found work in the local sweetshop.

It was there that she heard, in 1982, that a Florida DJ had been pushing her song so much that it had been re-released, and was finally hitting the charts. Within a few weeks, the singer found herself back at the top, as the song hit #1 in country after country all over the world, and she left her Essex sweetshop to fly on the Concorde to perform internationally. But the rollercoaster dipped again. A duet with Stevie Wonder, "Used To Be," proved a controversial failure, and the royalties from her massive hit just disappeared.

The growing international success of the musical Priscilla, Queen of the Desert has confirmed her as a hugely popular singer amongst the gay community, and recently she released a new club version of her iconic song in association with Eye Witness.

Charlene's story has it all: the stars, the fame, the struggle, the pain. No one does it better than Charlene.