Viv Hardwick talks to Natasha Burnett about her ability to combine the roles of Diana Ross and Michael Jackson.

THERE can’t be too many singers who can portray the singing styles of Diana Ross and Michael Jackson, but The Magic of Motown show star Natasha Burnett is performing both roles… completely by accident.

Burnett, 23, will be belting out the Jackson 5 hits like ABC, I’ll Be There and I Want You Back on stage at Gateshead’s The Sage tomorrow night, but producer Michael Taylor admits that the company did try and hide the fact that My Guy was actually My Girl..

“In fact, Natasha’s additional role to being the female lead would have remained our little secret if we hadn’t been asked for an interview,” he says.

Burnett adds: “The first time I performed as Michael was on the night the world learnt he had passed away. We hastily rehearsed a version of Michael’s Jackson’s hit Ben as an extra-special tribute and it was decided I could hit the high notes better than any other member of the cast.

“I was volunteered for the Michael Jackson role after seeing all the guys doing it but they were all five ft nine or ten inches and a bit too tall and didn’t match the description. One day one of the guys had to go home early for an emergency and they were one short for the choreography and, as I’ve been part of The Magic of Motown since it started, I know everyone’s parts.

“They said ‘we don’t need to teach you this because you already know it’ so I did it in the background and then it was decided that I looked right.”

She admits there is a real challenge for her in switching between the two singing, and costume, styles.

“For Diana I don’t need to look like a man, but I suppose it’s being a boy really. Vocally, the first few times I did it, the songs were right at the top of my range and I don’t normally sing like that for five songs. So, at first it was a but shaky and I thought ‘I’m never going to be able to get this’ but my voice got used to it. My mum came to see the show about three weeks ago and said ‘you definitely mastered it now’,” says Burnett, who has been performing since the age of 15 and was cast in the film Children of Men, starring Clive Owen and Michael Caine, and has featured in numerous telly adverts.

“Acting is good for the bank balance but my real passion is the theatre,” she says.

She’s been touring in Motown tribute shows for the past five years and was originally recruited for The Magic of Motown for her reputation as a Diana Ross soundalike.

“Fortunately, I restrict my portrayal of Diana Ross to my on-stage performance,” says Burnett, “so the guys need not be concerned that I have any diva tendencies… for the time being at least.”

As well as performing as Diana Ross, Natasha also portrays Martha Reeves, Gladys Knight, Mary Wells in a show which features between 36 and 40 million-selling songs and has a constantly changing format.

“It’s a job any girl would die for,” says Burnett.

“With 16 costume changes, I get to wear the most amazing frocks every night, and get paid for the privilege.

“It doesn’t go right every night. Sometimes I do out with dress half done-up and I had to go out one night with a zip that had completely broken all the way down to the side of my hip. So I put it on and tried to sew it up so I could still wear it on stage.

Then there’s another dress with a train and I changed in the dark and took off shoes with diamantes on and one of them snagged on the sequins of the train. I’m out there singing Stop In The Name of Love and can hardly walk because I’m dragging a shoe around the stage and everyone in the audience could see it.”

■ The Magic Of Motown, tomorrow, 8pm, The Sage, Gateshead, NE8 2JR Tickets: £20.50, £24.50. Box office: 0191-443-4661 thesagegateshead.

org easytheatres.com March 26, Grand Opera House, York; April 29, Sunderland Empire