The pop promoter turned Escape to the Country presenter on her Kevin Keegan perm, putting Robbie Williams to bed and dealing with a brain tumour

Born in Kent in 1967, Nicki Chapman is a broadcaster and 90s pop industry stalwart. She joined MCA Records as a promotions assistant at the age of 20, before moving to RCA Records and establishing herself as one of the most successful publicists of the decade. As a promoter and manager she has worked with artists such as David Bowie, Take That, the Spice Girls and S Club 7. In the early 00s, Chapman turned to TV; first as a judge on Popstars, and later as a host of Escape to the Country and a BBC Radio 2 DJ. Her memoir, So Tell Me What You Want: My Story of Making It in the Mad, Bad and Fab Pop Music Industry, is out now.

My blue velvet Laura Ashley dress. It was £70, expensive, and I bought it to go to a ball a few years before. I was rocking a slight Kevin Keegan perm at the time. Don’t get me wrong – it looked great on Kevin, but not on me. Nevertheless, I kept that hairstyle for more than a decade.