FLAME-HAIRED songbird Carol Decker admits she can’t wait to set flight for Selkirk.

The iconic T’Pau vocalist was talking exclusively to the Border Telegraph ahead of her band’s upcoming Pleasure & Pain tour.

Throughout the late 1980s T’Pau were amongst the biggest bands in the country.

They enjoyed five weeks at number one in the UK, six months on the US Billboard chart, and a million-plus selling debut album.

And for many the power ballad China in Your Hand, which reached number one in six different countries, remains one of the songs of the decade.

With a new album due out next week and the forthcoming tour about to start, it was an excited 57-year-old Carol that we caught up with last week.

She told us: “I’ve been doing the nostalgia circuit for the past 15 years with many other bands from the 80s - and thoroughly enjoyed it - but it’s completely different when you are about to go out on your own.

“I’ve always loved playing in Scotland and I’m so pleased we have two dates north of the border to end the tour.

“I have fond memories of playing the Barrowlands and Edinburgh Playhouse with T’Pau. I’ve never played in the Borders before but I’m looking forward to it.” Selkirk’s Victoria Hall on Saturday, March 14, will be the finale to the 20-date UK tour.

Despite approaching pensionable age Carol can’t wait to get out on the road again. She continued: “I look after myself these days - you have to.

“When we first started I didn’t have a care but as you get older you realise you’ve got to look after your body and your voice. I live like an athlete these days and enjoy jumping about the stage.

“We played at last year’s Isle of Wight festival and I had the time of my life - people were singing along with all the songs and the tent was packed out. People appreciate it when you make the effort and we have always made the effort.” T’Pau burst onto the music scene in 1987 with the four-times-platinum album Bridge of Spies.

The songwriting of Decker and co-founder Ron Rogers also delivered two of the year’s biggest selling singles - Heart and Soul and China in Your Hand.

The follow-up album Rage also went platinum and produced the hit singles Secret Garden and I Will be With You.

But the Decker-Rodgers partnership ended abruptly after four years amidst in-fighting, dubious management and family stresses.

Although T’Pau continued on and off for the next two decades it was only in 2013 that Ron and Carol finally got back together on stage to celebrate the band’s 25th anniversary.

It was here that the pair began completing the songs they had started to write some quarter of a decade earlier, as well as working up new material, and the faint chance of another classic T’Pau album suddenly became a reality.

Pleasure and Pain has already received rave reviews and is also picking up plenty of network radio airtime.

Carol explained: “We knew when we first started in the 1980s that we had some strong songs and we were confident T’Pau would be a success, but we never thought we’d be as big as we were, especially so quickly.

“It was great to team up with Ron again. We didn’t kill each other when we were doing the anniversary tour so we went back into the studio.

“I love the new songs and I’m looking forward to playing a few of them. The critics have been kind about the new album and Radio 2 are regularly playing the first single - it’s the first time a new T’Pau song has been getting this kind of attention for a long time.” The Pleasure & Pain tour begins in Camberley on January 22 and heads all around England Wales before arriving in Scotland on Friday, March 13 in Montrose before the curtain comes down following evening at Selkirk’s Victoria Hall.

Carol added: “It’s our last night and we’ll make sure Selkirk is entertained. We plan to play all of the hits as well as a few treats from the older albums and a few from the new one.” Tickets for the Selkirk date of T’Pau’s tour, priced at £18, are available from borderevents.com or 01750 725480.