RUBY Turner, the chart-topping soul sister with attitude, is often described as a diva.

So naturally you’d assume she would be the type to be surrounded by a dozen assistants and demand certain luxuries.

But I was quite shocked when, a few minutes before my agreed slot, she rang me herself for our interview.

It’s quite normal for an assistant to do the dialling and transfer the call to the star, who sits and waits for instructions while being waited on hand and foot.

But, as I soon learned, this wouldn’t do for Ruby. From the off she was laughing and joking in her trademark husky tones, excited about her latest tour, coming to Colne Muni next month.

“I’ve not been to Colne since the Blues Festival in 2008. I loved it. It was super. I always remember it to be a really fabulous place,” oozed the singer, whose career spans a quarter of a century. “The vibe at the Colne Blues Festival is very much the vibe you get in Europe. It’s a great crowd, who really love my kind of music. So I’m very excited to be going back to see Colne again.”

Ruby might be one of the finest soul artists of her generation, but she’s not forgotten her early life as a Brummie.

Ruby Turner was born in Jamaica and moved to Birmingham at the age of nine. Her major break came in the mid 1980s when she joined Culture Club and went on to have hit albums on both sides of the Atlantic working with the biggest names in soul.

But she says she’s not let it go to her head.

“Some people are so full of their own self-importance they forget the real deal. It’s easy to get caught up in your own hype,” she said. “But when it’s all stripped back and you’re not in favour this month, what do you do then? So my whole thing is to stay rooted and get on with life. I am who I am. I try to be as honest and sincere as I can be.”

And when she’s not on stage with Jools Holland or Mick Jagger, writing songs for Lulu, or even trying her hand at acting (she was in Love Actually and once appeared in EastEnders) Ruby tells me her life is quiet.

When we spoke Ruby was having a "chore day" and the current job in hand was fitting new fence panels in her back garden.

“I’m unpopular with the neighbours because my panels are blowing in the breeze. They’ve come lose while I’ve been on tour.

“And they need fixing because I also quite like to have my privacy when I’m at home. I’m a very private person. When I come home I like to shut the door and live a normal life. Normal being you’re not on that stage doing that bit people expect of you.”

After Culture Club, Ruby signed a solo recording contract with Jive Records and her first album, Women Hold Up Half The Sky, was released in 1986, to critical acclaim.

A string of hits followed and Ruby was one of just 10 other British artists to have a US R&B number 1.

She says she still makes sure she finds the time to listen to new music, saying soul is in vogue again.

“I was really taken by Paolo Nutini last year," she said. "I had the pleasure of meeting him and I thought he was older than he was. He sings with such passion and is just what I like in a musician. For me to hear young artists coming through now with that style, it’s like stepping back to the Van Morrison days. It’s like soul has come full circle and it's on trend again, which is great news for me.”

Ruby is never happier than when she’s performing, which is a good job, because after her UK tour, which starts next week, Ruby is off with Jools Holland again to tour Holland, Japan and Australia.

“Now that will be a hard one to pack for,” she jokes. “You do get tired and it’s difficult when you’re on the road because you don’t see your loved ones and all I do is run up pretty big phone bills.

“But it’s the best job, and I do work hard for it but I think I’m the luckiest person in the world. It’s such a cliche to be doing what you love and getting paid for it. I often think 'how did that happen?' I’m so glad it’s happening to me.”

* Ruby Turner, Municipal Hall, Colne, Friday, February 19.