DENISE Waterman found fame with Tight Fit but it is probably more accurate to say that fame found her.

This was the early 1980s and until that point she had been trying to make it in TV, bagging parts in the likes of The Benny Hill Show and Morecambe and Wise.

But things changed for Denise in an instant when she went for an audition to front a new cover version of The Lion Sleeps Tonight. Before she knew it she was being dressed up in leopard skin, alongside Steve Grant and Julie Harris, for Top of the Pops.

The cover song, originally released by The Tokens in 1961, went to number one for three weeks.

“It was unbelievable,” said Denise, who lived with The Krankies for two years during her cabaret days.

“We went from going to an audition to suddenly being on Top of the Pops where we were wearing thigh length leopard skin boots and a loin cloth. That wasn’t so much the surprise as I’d previously been a Benny Hill girl.

“Wearing clothes like that wasn’t a problem but you’d go on stage and people would be screaming at you and we’d get in the car to go on a Radio 1 roadshow and people were banging on the windows.

“It was exciting but a bit of a whirlwind. Our lives weren’t our own. It was bit like being a puppet.”

Denise’s brush with fame was short but sweet. Tight Fit’s cover of The Millionaire’s song Fantasy Island came next reaching number five in the charts. The bubble then burst when the trio released their third single, Secret Heart, which stalled at number 41.

But now, more than three decades on, Tight Fit are enjoying something of a resurgence on their own terms. Riding the wave of 80s revival, they have reconnected with their audiences and will be at the Parr Hall as part of Loving The 80s on January 28.

It will feel like coming home for Denise as she lived in Warrington while she was married to Pete Waterman, of hitmakers Stock Aitken Waterman fame. The Parr Hall was also one of the first venues that Tight Fit played at when they were supported by Paul Young and The Q-Tips.

Denise, 55, added: “Before he became famous he was the singer for this band and when we went into rehearsals and heard him sing we nearly fell over because he was so amazing.

“I lived in Warrington for 12 years when I was married to Pete. My daughters went to school in Daresbury. I’ve got a lot of fond memories of Warrington and Mr Smiths as Pete used to do the Hitman and Her there.

“I lived there for quite a long time so it will be quite strange to be performing there again. Hopefully a lot of old friends will be saying hello.”

Tight Fit will be joined by headliner Toyah, Electro 80s, Jennie Bellestars, LaLa Shockette, DJ Caz Matthews, stylist Chris Griff and host Tommy Mack.

Denise, who released a new album with Tight Fit last year called Together, said: “For a lot of people it brings back memories of their youth. If you’re hearing music that formed part of your growing up it feels like you’re back there again.

“That is probably why shows like this exist and why people flock to them. Just before Christmas we did a show at the biggest gay pub, the Royal Vauxhall Tavern.

“It was hilarious because we have this ABBA-esque song called Fantasy Island which is very singalong and cheesy and there were all these guys who knew all the words and all the dance moves.

“A week before that we did a charity night to raise awareness for HIV. The Mayor of Wandsworth was there. It was completely different people so every event is very different. We never know what’s coming next.

“And we still have people who bring records for us to sign. We can’t believe they’ve kept them after all these years. I think music is coming full circle now. It is getting more lyrical but there was a whole phase of music that I’d call dirge – rave and that kind of stuff.

“There was no musicality in it. You couldn’t sing along to it. You just had to grunt once, twice or three times.

“With the music from the 80s you could form some romantic memory with the words.”

DAVID MORGAN