Bucks Fizz claimed the Eurovision Song Contest for Britain with Making Your Mind Up in 1981, but only one member of the quartet has stayed in the limelight since then: Cheryl Baker.

By 1993, Baker was ready to go solo. Since then, the bubbly Eastender has been a singer, theatre actress, television presenter, cook-book author and an after-dinner speaker. In the 1990s, Baker was on television a lot hosting such shows as Record Breakers, The Really Useful Show and Eggs ’n’ Baker, a children’s cookery and musical show.

She performs about six gigs a year with Mike Nolan, Bobby Gee and Shelley Preston under the name The Original Bucks Fizz, which reformed in 2004.

Baker, 54, lives in Kent with her husband, the bass guitarist Steve Stroud, and their twin daughters Kayla and Natalie, 14.

How much money do you normally have in your wallet?

I get all my cash from the hole-in-the-wall at £200 a time. I re-stock when I run out.

How many credit or debit cards do you have?

Oh my God. I have so many credit and debit cards, and those loyalty store cards too. I don’t owe a penny on them as I pay them off immediately. I ran up debts years ago, and they took forever to pay off. Never again.

What was your first job and how much were you paid?

My first “proper” job was as a shorthand typist in the City, earning £12 10s (£12.50 in new money). It was a really good wage for a 16 year old, but I was very good at it.

I still take down lyrics in shorthand — well, you never know when I’ll need a proper job again.

Have you ever been really hard up or broke?

Of course. In the late 1990s, I went from being on the TV six days a week down to none — coincidentally just after I was featured on This is Your Life.

Same mortgage, same bills but almost no income. We cut back on holidays, cancelled the twice-weekly cleaner and the help I had with the children.

Even in the heady days of Bucks Fizz, when we were selling out tours and going to No 1 in charts all over the world, I had to take out loans to pay debts.

We never earned very much from Fizz. It’s how I invested my money since that has made a difference.

Are you a saver or a spender?

I’m afraid I’m a spender.

What is the most extravagant thing you have ever bought?

In 1983, I bought a motor boat for £15,000 cash. It was a Fairline Phantom that slept six at a push.

It was the early years of Bucks Fizz and I loved it because when I was on my boat no-one could get me — there were no such things as mobile phones then. I loved it but it was moored in Brighton and cost a fortune to run.

The bank manager suggested I should sell it eventually, so I did after three years for £14,000.

Are you better off than your parents?

I was the fourth of five children, born in a three-bedroomed council flat in Bethnal Green. All our furniture was second-hand, all my clothes were second-hand.

The only things I had new were shoes, as my dad was a shoemaker. I am far, far better off than my parents.

What is the worst thing that has ever happened to you financially?

Fortunately, I’ve never been in a position to be affected too badly by finance. I’ve been in debt but managed to clear it. I’ve only ever invested money that I’ve been willing to lose.

What is the most lucrative work you have done? Did you use the fee for something special?

After the birth of my twin daughters, I was sponsored by a slimming company. My husband and I both owned a semi-detached house each when we married and, with the sale of both houses and the payment, we managed to buy a property in Kent that really pushed us up the ladder.

Do you own other property? Would you consider investing in the property market now?

My husband and I have invested recently in property in Cape Verde, off the coast of West Africa. We bought a beachfront apartment and a three-bedroom town house, which will be finished next year. The market is extremely quiet at the moment, so we need to sit tight and wait for it to get better — which it will. We have a caravan near Rye, on the south coast too. I bought that on a whim for £15,000.

Although I have always worked hard and earned my living, it is bricks and mortar that has been the most lucrative investment. If you can hold on tight, I’m quite sure property is still the soundest investment.

Do you invest in shares? Do you consider yourself a risk taker?

I do own a few shares but really not enough to worry about. I’m not interested enough in the market to get too involved. It is a gamble and I don’t have money to squander.

Do you manage your own financial affairs?

Hah! If I managed my own affairs I’d be living on the streets by now.

I have a fantastic personal assistant who has been with me for 24 years, a superb bank manager, who I’ve been with for 20-odd years and an accountant who has been with me around five years. Between them, they organise my life.

What has been your worst investment?

I invested £20,000 in Dangerous Parking, a film adapted, produced and starred in by an old mate of mine, Peter Howitt. It is on release as a DVD so please, everyone, go out and buy it. I don’t know why it wasn’t a success. I don’t regret the investment, I just wish I could claw some of it back.

How are you going to fund your retirement? Do you think pensions are a good thing?

Show business is so precarious, I believe a pension is vital. When I was in my twenties, I just couldn’t see me still singing and in the public eye in my dotage. So I took out pensions to pay out every five years from the age of 50. I am glad I did it now as I’ve started to collect already, though it’s not that much.

What is your financial priority?

The same as any parent, I suppose, that my children are secure. We will move house soon, and hopefully be mortgage-free. If anything should happen to us, the girls get the lot when they are 25.

Have you ever seen anyone spend money in a way that shocked you?

Back in the 1970s, I worked briefly in the Playboy Club — as a singer, not a bunny girl. I remember being told to turn the volume down one night as a guy in the casino had lost a million, and blamed it on the music coming from the restaurant.

That taught me a big lesson — only gamble what you can afford to lose.

If you could change one thing about the tax system what would it be?

I think inheritance tax and death duties are stealing. I have worked hard all my life and paid all my taxes yet, when I die, the taxman will tax me again.

Have you ever won or surprisingly come into a sum of money?

I bet £20 on an accumulator at the races once, I think that’s what you call it, when you have to pick the horses that will come in first, second and third over five races.

I didn’t really take much notice until my husband said that he thought I’d won. I went to the loo and when I came back he gave me £80, which I was thrilled with. Then he gave me the £800 that went with it.

Do you donate to charity? If so, which one and why?

I donate each month to the NSPCC and Concern Worldwide. I’m very involved with lots of charities and support them, not just with donations, but by actually working for them. My prime charity is Headfirst, of which I am a trustee. I was one of the founder members, following the coach crash I was involved in when my friend and colleague, Mike Nolan, sustained brain damage.

What is the most important lesson you have learnt about money?

That it doesn’t make you happy. I’ve seen many rich, unhappy people. I’m not one of them (rich or unhappy), thank goodness. On the other hand, I don’t want to be poor.

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