Clad in her leopard-skin shrug and dark sunglasses, 69-year-old Ruth Flowers has conquered French clubland from the Cannes Film Festival to the top Paris nightspots with a mix of old-school hits, electrobeat and bling-bling style.
From the church to the clubWhile Flowers, a trained singer, was more used to church songs, German lieder and classic pop, she was so taken by her grandsons party that she decided there and then to become a disc jockey.
“I had no idea at the time of electro music,” she said. However,as someone with interests ranging from history to theater to fashion, she was willing to learn.
A friend put her in touch with French producer Aurelien Simon who taught her how to spin and helped her to devlop a style.
“In the beginning it was just a little joke but it became serious,” Simon told Reuters by phone. “It took four years because she had to learn to use the machines. I explained the basics of electro music, and then she created her own style.”
Flowers is working on a single, due to be released this spring. Some of her friends in London were a little skeptical about her new career at first, but she has drawn encouragement from her family and fans.
She remembers how young people from all over the world came up to her when she performed at the Cannes film festival.
“They said, “you’re awesome, we want to be like you’,” she said. “I always say — you don’t want to be like me. You want to be you.”
