Short answers, pulled from the story.
Barbara Dickson holds the Guinness World Record for the best-selling female duet ever recorded. The record applies to "I Know Him So Well", a duet she recorded with Elaine Paige for the concept album of the musical Chess in 1984. The song spent four weeks at number one on the UK Singles Chart.
Barbara Dickson began her career singing in folk clubs around Fife in 1964. Her first commercial recording came in 1968, and her first solo album, Do Right Woman, was released in 1970. She built her early reputation on the British folk circuit before a meeting with playwright Willy Russell shifted her toward pop recording and theatre.
Barbara Dickson has won two Laurence Olivier Awards for Best Actress in a Musical. She received the first in 1983 for playing Mrs. Johnstone in Willy Russell's Blood Brothers and the second in 2000 for her portrayal of pools winner Viv Nicholson in Spend Spend Spend.
Willy Russell cast Barbara Dickson in John, Paul, George, Ringo... and Bert, which led to her signing with RSO Records and a guest residency on The Two Ronnies. Russell also invited her to play Mrs. Johnstone in Blood Brothers in 1982, the role that earned her first Olivier Award in 1983.
Barbara Dickson was appointed an OBE in the Queen's New Year Honours in 2002 for her services to Music and Drama.
Barbara Dickson is known for playing Anita Braithwaite in the television drama Band of Gold. She also appeared in Taggart and The Missing Postman during the 1990s, and held a guest residency on The Two Ronnies, where her performances reached more than ten million BBC viewers each week.