In the mood again

It'll be a rare chance to see the sisters performing together as they've all gone their separate ways professionally, while remaining close as a family.

"The Nolans have sort of finished," says Anne, the eldest sister who's appearing with her daughter Amy Nolan, in pantomime in York this Christmas.

"We got together for the first time in 20 years for the TV show. We still do things like that if they come up but I don't think we'll ever tour again together."

Anne and sister Maureen have been touring as the Nolans, along with Amy and cousin Julia. But even that's ended now that Maureen's starring in the musical Blood Brothers in the West End.

So tonight's a rare chance to catch the family group who've sold nine million records and seen their cult hit, I'm In The Mood For Dancing, played in discos up and down the UK. In All Time Greatest Party Songs they'll be joining the likes of Tony Christie, Rick Astley, Bananarama, Simply Red and Suzi Quatro to belt out their old hits.

Anne and Amy, meanwhile, will be on stage at the Grand Opera House in Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs. Anne plays the Wicked Queen with Amy as Snow White.

Both point out the differences to singing together as a group. "In pantomime you're playing a character, you have lines to say," says Anne. "When you're doing live cabaret or concerts, you're being yourself although there's a certain amount of acting going on."

Last year they appeared together in the same pantomime in Torquay, where Amy was born. Blackpool, where the Nolans moved from Ireland, remains the family home.

Singing was in their blood. Anne did her first professional gig at 12. "We were singing in working men's clubs for about ten years until we had our break into TV and recording," she says. "So it was a ten-year apprenticeship, there's nowhere better to learn than working men's clubs."

Amy left school at 16 and was asked by her mum and aunt Maureen to join the Nolans. "I toured all over the country with them. I'd spent so much time with my mum and my aunts that it came quite naturally," she says.

The mother-daughter relationship is tested when they're working in Snow White. "It's difficult for me to stop being a mother and for her to stop treating me like a mother," says Anne.

"She tells me off more than she would be able to tell off someone else," adds Amy.

"I used to tell her cousin off as well," continues Anne. "I wait for her and make myself late as well. I should just drive off and leave her."

They may not be performing as a group but the Nolans like nothing better than a sing-song when they meet up again on family occasions, like Christmas.

"We love singing and every time we get together we start singing harmonies. We just do," says Anne. "From the time we were kids, from the time we were old enough to talk really, we always sang."

She looks back with affection on the years of performing as the Nolans. "We've always felt responsible for each other," she says. "It's very difficult to be individual when you're working with your family. We worked and lived together 24 hours a day but never fell out, like we didn't speak to each other again.

"When we stopped working as a group, we obviously didn't see each other so much. It was like losing your right arm in a way, seeing someone 24 hours a day and suddenly they're not there. We all became individuals."

Anne is the only one of the five sisters who hasn't starred in the stage musical Blood Brothers in London's West End or on tour. It could earn them a place in the Guinness Book of Records - four siblings in the same part.

"People keep saying to me, 'why don't you do it?'," says Anne. "But if I went and auditioned and didn't get the part, I'd never live it down. But I would love to play it."

Since the new look Nolans ended, Amy has been doing less singing and running her own band. She wants to start writing songs again, perhaps with her younger sister.

The sisters enjoyed the reunion for the TV show. "It was a great time," says Anne. "We had a laugh. But because we hadn't worked for a while, we were in hysterics about little things that weren't really funny."

* All Time Greatest Party Songs is on BBC1 tonight at 5.30pm.

* Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs continues at York Grand Opera House until January 8. Tickets 0870 606 3595.