Barbara Ruth Dickson, OBE (born Dunfermline, Fife, 27 September 1947) is a Scottish singer whose hits include "I Know Him So Well" and "January February". Dickson has placed fifteen albums in the UK Albums Chart from 1977 to date, and had a number of hit singles, including four which reached the Top 20 in the UK Singles Chart. The Scotsman newspaper has described her as Scotland's best-selling female singer in terms of the numbers of hit chart singles and albums she has achieved in the UK since 1976.

She is also a two-time Olivier Award-winning actress, with roles including Viv Nicholson in the musical Spend Spend Spend, and she was the original Mrs. Johnstone in Willy Russell's long-running musical Blood Brothers. On TV she starred as Anita Braithwaite in Band of Gold.

Biography

Dickson is married to Oliver Cookson who works as an Assistant Director in television for the BBC, and has three sons. She and her family live in Lincolnshire. She was awarded an OBE in the Queen's New Year Honours in 2002 for her services to Music and Drama.