MUSIC has been a life changing journey for soul singer PP Arnold and she is showing no signs of slowing down yet.

She is performing at Salisbury City Hall in October as part of a nationwide UK tour celebrating rhythm and blues music in The Maximum Rhythm N’ Blues starring original 60s luminaries The Manfreds.

PP is appearing as a special guest on the tour with Zoot Money.

She was one of the original Ikettes with the Ike and Tina Turner Experience, and one of the originators of UK soul music, before being noticed by Mick Jagger and catapulted to stardom with hits such as The First Cut Is The Deepest, written by Cat Stevens, and Angel Of The Morning.

The singer says she is looking forward to the tour and performing alongside old friends.

“I’m really looking forward to it. They are all lovely guys and great musicians and I’ve known Zoot for 50 years so it’s going to be fun. I’m looking forward to coming back to Salisbury.”

She said: “I love touring and still love it — being able to sing, perform and uplift people and make them happy.”

“I love working on great music. I’m loving it even more – I’m doing so much.”

Despite getting ready to celebrate a “big birthday” the singer shows no signs of slowing down.

“I’m still going strong and still doing live performances. I’m working with great vocal coaches – I’m better than I’ve ever been.

“I’m humbled to still be out here at this time in my life. It’s great people still want to hear me singing.”

Aside from her music PP has also been working on her autobiography, which she hopes will be released in the spring.

But, the singer admits she had never planned to have a music career. She was given her big break by Ike and Tina Turner after impressing them at a chance audition.

And this big break gave PP a way out of an abusive marriage.

“When I joined Ike and Tina Turner I never planned to be in music but music has always been in my life,” said PP, who had started singing gospel music in church when she was a child.

The chance meeting and audition came about after she was asked to fill in at an audition for another girl.

And she says it gave her a way out of an abusive marriage.

“I just lied to my husband and said I was going shopping. He would have never let me go. Next thing I knew I was with Ike and Tina singing. Tina said you’re the right girl you’ve got the gig.”

On the verge of turning down the job as an Ikette, PP followed the advice of Tina and came along to their gig in San Francisco before she returned home to her husband.

“I arrived home at 6 o’clock, walked in the door and he [my husband] hit me and straight away it knocked some sense into me – I did have a way out,” continued PP. “It was a day in my life that changed my life. It showed me a way out.”

Speaking about her experiences with Ike and Tina Turner she said: “I like to remember what a great experience it was for me as a young woman, having the opportunity to work with Ike and Tina. He was one of the great innovators, band leaders and musicians, and Tina was simply the best performer.”

She added: “Music helped me through my life and changed my life – took me out of an abusive marriage.”

PP came over to the UK in the sixties where she established a career as a successful soul singer. But after the death of her daughter in the 70s she took a break from music. In the 1980s she performed in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Starlight Express.

“I came back in the 80s and thought everyone had forgotten about me – out of sight, out of mind.”

PP then dipped her toes into the world of theatre swapping a microphone for a pair of roller skates to appear in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Starlight Express as Belle the Sleeping Car.

“It was a difficult time coming back to the UK without my daughter. It was kind of like I was the character Belle the Sleeping Car and had been through the ringer and put on the path and had to come back. It was kind of like that in my life. I really related to that character.”

The Maximum Rhythm N’ Blues tour is at Salisbury City Hall on October 21, 7.30pm.