WHEN T’Pau frontwoman Carol Decker treads the boards at the Hall For Cornwall next week, she will cast her mind back to the band’s heyday, when all its major tours began west of the Tamar.

“Back in the ‘80s, we used to kick off with a production rehearsal at the Coliseum in Carlyon Bay,” she recalls. “We’d build our stages and make sure the lights were working, then perform our first show there.”

The video for the single Road To Our Dream even included footage of the band putting up letters to spell Sold Out at the venue, and a windswept Carol singing on Tintagel headland. “Happy memories.”

This time round, Carol is the star turn in NOW That’s What I Call A Musical, at the Hall For Cornwall from Tuesday with comedy actress Nina Wadia. Carol will perform two of her smash-hits: China In Your Hand - which hogged the number one spot for five weeks in 1987 – and Heart & Soul, combining her soaring rock vocals with rap.

Anyone who enjoyed a 1980s childhood will be familiar with the NOW That’s What I Call Music double-album franchise, which debuted in 1983 as a kind of legal version of the mixtape without the annoying DJ interruptions.

“If you were on a NOW album, it meant you’d had one of the biggest hits of the year,” says Carol. “You have to give yourself credit for that, and it’s great that people of a certain age still want to hear it.”

The stage version was written by award-winning comedian Pippa Evans, and directed and choreographed by Strictly judge Craig Revel Horwood. The storyline follows Birmingham friends Gemma and April from their school reunion in 2009, back in time to 1989. As teens, they plan their lives around Number One magazine and dream of snogging Rick Astley; as adults, old flames and receding hairlines come together and past events slot into place.

One suspects the plot is merely a device upon which to hang songs that will have you on your feet – think Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, Tainted Love, Hey Mickey. You might struggle to remember your kids’ names, but the lyrics to Gold? No problem.

Dig out your Spandex and your Elnett, and let loose. “It’s a very interactive musical – we want everyone singing and dancing,” says Carol who, unsurprisingly, looks fondly upon the 1980s as “a great decade”.

She warms to her theme: “Everything was big, dynamic, different. You had the first computers and mobile phones. Films like St Elmo’s Fire and Ghostbusters. Stars like Madonna and Boy George.”

Meanwhile, Carol’s band with then-boyfriend Ron Rogers was starting to build a following beyond their home in rural Shropshire.

“It wasn’t easy – I was the wrong side of 25, which was considered geriatric for launching a singing career,” she explains. “And it was long before the internet. Today, it seems like you can do everything from your bedroom. Then, you had to hope some A&R guy would see you at some hole in Birmingham, or send out cassettes and letters as we did.

“By the time it happened, it was hard fought for - and it really was everything I could have wished for.”

T’Pau enjoyed eight hits, three albums and global success. “The record companies had outposts in major cities – Hamburg, Paris, Turin – and would put you up in the best hotels, take you to the best restaurants in town. You’d be flown by private jet so you could do Top of the Pops in London, then get to the German version later that day.

“You got used to it very quickly – from the dole queue to flying first class in Virgin. In fact,” she adds, as if she’s just remembered, “when China was number one, Richard Branson flew us out to Necker Island for two weeks. It was bloody fantastic.”

Truro is her first NOW gig, but it’s not her first acting experience – when T’Pau’s fortunes began to wane, she appeared in film and TV, and on stage with West End comedy.

“It was a baptism of fire, but I needed to pivot,” she says. “I was auditioning for musicals and not getting them – they would get me in because ‘we love Carol Decker’ but would then ask me to sing things differently, more ‘stage musical’. I’d think, you know who I am and what I sound like. The great thing about this show is, they actually want me to sound like me.

“And it’s incredibly different being part of a musical cast. The pressure isn’t on my shoulders – I just get to jump up twice and sing. I feel very lucky, at this stage in my career, to be able to sing my songs in such a wide variety of formats.” That includes festivals, acoustic sets, orchestral backing and cruise ships. “It’s the gift that keeps on giving.”

We’re chatting shortly after the untimely death of One Direction member Liam Payne, and Carol is reflective of the ebb and flow of a musical career. “I had to lick my wounds for a while in the ‘90s,” she sighs. “I know in a small way what it’s like to be so busy and so big, then so unwanted. Everyone wants you everywhere, and when that’s gone, it’s hard to fill the void, even if you have money - I was lucky, because Ron and I wrote all the songs.

“But you have to pick yourself up and try to find a way of being relevant again. Once I’d stopped being a pop star and saw myself as a singer, I could grow older in my career rather than always trying to be ‘that girl’. I still have 99 per cent of my voice and am still enjoying myself.”

She performed at her first ‘80s festival in 2001, with Go West, Kim Wilde and Paul Young. “I thought these won’t last long, so make money and have fun while you can. I haven’t stopped since,” she laughs. “I’ve relaxed into it – it’s nice to be part of the soundtrack of people’s youth. It’s a privilege.”

She’s still very fond of ‘80s fashions – “I love an oversized blazer with rolled-up cuffs” – but goes easier on the hair these days. “I once set it on fire in a wine bar – one of those with candles in wine bottles, before health and safety,” she cackles. “My hair was backcombed and lacquered; it was very crowded, and I stepped back to let someone get past, then wondered, ‘What’s that terrible smell?’ Then a girl pointed at me and started screaming. My hair was so big and thick, I couldn’t even feel it.”

China In Your Hand had the honour of being the 600th single to top the UK charts, and is a PRS-recognised classic that continues to make its authors money. But has it ever felt like a millstone? “When I was writing new songs it seemed no one wanted to listen to, I began to bloody hate it,” she admits. “But I pushed through that - now I think it’s talismanic. You don’t always know that when you’re writing it.”

NOW That’s What I Call a Musical runs at the Hall For Cornwall in Truro from Tuesday, November 5 to Saturday, November 9. www.hallforcornwall.co.uk