Elkie Brooks: No more the has-been

"I HOPED I was going to retire when I was 40, but unfortunately I wasn't rich enough to be able to do that," is how 42-year-old Elkie Brooks sums up her feelings on the unlikely longevity of her singing career. But such financial imperatives, together with a voice that has weathered the years with an undiminished capacity, have facilitated an extraordinary commercial and artistic renaissance for one of the most accomplished British vocalists in the field of mainstream commercial balladry.