MELANIE BLATT: AT 50, I’M EITHER DOING COLD PLUNGES OR SMOKING AND EATING MCDONALD’S

Melanie Blatt, 50, is an English singer who rose to fame in girl band All Saints. Born in London, she studied at the Sylvia Young Theatre School in central London, before joining All Saints as an 18-year-old. All Saints’ biggest single, ‘Never Ever’, won two Brit Awards and has gone on to become the third-ever bestselling single by a girl band in the UK.

Away from her solo career, she has been a judge on the X Factor in New Zealand and was a finalist on Celebrity MasterChef in 2022. She has one grown-up daughter, Lilyella, with former Jamiroquai bassist, Stuart Zender. Here, she looks back on the moments that have changed her, from getting pregnant at a young age, to touring the world, and her love of cooking.

At 50, mentally, I’m the best I’ve ever been. I’m doing things I’ve always dreamt of, that I’m finally brave enough to do. I struggled with turning 40 – it felt like you were entering the territory of your parents.

I launched a burger business called Full Fillings – as in fulfilled – and I love it. We’ve got a pop-up in Stoke Newington and I do two days a week. It feels like this next bit of my life is going to be quite enjoyable.

My health comes in cycles. I’m either training every day, going to the gym, having cold plunges, infrared saunas, eating healthily, going to bed early and feeling amazing. Or I’m smoking, eating McDonald’s, laying on the sofa and I’m grey. The unhealthy stints last longer than the healthy stints. I hate waking up feeling like my arse is being dragged across the floor, my face feeling like someone else’s, thinking: “Oh no, what have I done?”

Luckily, I’ve got friends who run an amazing health retreat in Spain. I love it. Then I go out, have a drink, have a pizza next morning for breakfast, and go back to being shit again. But I’ve now learned at 50, that is just who I am.

My parents were hippies on the dole. Then they started a screen printing business, my dad became a cab driver, and was a TEFL teacher for a bit. I had a very happy childhood. My parents were very supportive and loving.

My sister is 11 years younger, so she was my baby too, but when All Saints became successful, I was travelling so much, I missed a big chunk of her growing up. We re-bonded when she turned 18 and she showed me Ibiza and clubbing, which I had missed out on because I’d had Lily, my daughter. Me and my sister rave together; she’s one of my best buds.

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I wasn’t mature enough to be grateful to be flying around the world. But I’ve never laughed like that in my life. We’d hang out with the girls who did our hair and makeup, and crazy things would happen. I took it a bit for granted and didn’t appreciate the countries we were visiting or the food that we could have been eating. In Japan, we didn’t eat sushi – we just ate McDonald’s the whole time. I’d fallen in love for the first time with my daughter’s father, so my brain was somewhere else. I spent a lot of it wanting to go home.

You feel invincible when you’re young and pregnant. I was brought up to think pregnancy wasn’t something you needed to make a fuss of. I wanted to prove it wasn’t going to change anything. When I first started showing, my stylist would bring me the same clothes. When the press picked up that my little bump was showing mid riff, it didn’t cross my mind. It wasn’t a statement about being pregnant. I had a couple of months off, then Lily came on tour with my mum. I was lucky to have a job I could take my baby to.

I’m excited to do the granny thing and say: you can have this, you can have that, because I don’t have to deal with the consequences. My daughter is amazing. She’s 26 and married. She’s a talented and intelligent woman and I’m really proud of her.

I can’t wait to be in love one day. My husband is coming, because that’s what it said in my psychic reading. My Chinese horoscope said I’m going to find the one between 54 and 56.

Would I have more children? Absolutely not. I don’t believe in torture. I’ve been on my own for a lengthy time now. I’m fine on my own. I think it’s just the pressures of society: if you don’t find someone, you feel like a bit of a loser. You think: what is wrong with me? I think you can survive on your own. But maybe I’m just saying that because I’ve been single and on my own for so long.

The passion that I had for music 25 years ago is the same passion that I now have for cooking. I didn’t fall out of love with music, but I fell out of love with the business big time.

The majority of my career was with three other people, so you had to take on board their feelings and ideas. It’s quite nice to do something that I don’t have to ask anybody’s opinion about, or get people to agree with me. I love singing in the studio with my mates, so I’ll always do that. I definitely wouldn’t go looking to make music that’s going to pay the bills.

I’m happy with who I am, who I’ve become, with the people in my life and with my career. I’m the happiest I’ve ever been. You’re never 100 per cent in control of your life, but I’m in the most control I’ve ever been. The only thing is, I do have a funny ear. I DJ and I’m always turning it up too much because I was a late raver and one of our favourite things to do was stick our heads in the speakers. So that probably didn’t help.

Melanie has partnered with National Rail to create a series of audio guides to 200 musical locations you can travel to by train. See nationalrail.co.uk/musicalroutes

2025-07-23T05:34:06Z