Lounging on a green velvet couch in her airy hillside home in a ritzy suburb of Los Angeles, Cybil Shepherd is talking about her lifelong love of music. “My parents were the best jitterbuggers in Memphis,” she says. “Growing up, I was surrounded by Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Glenn Miller, the great swing era. My dad taught me to dance standing on top of his black and white wingtips.”

Cybill, 52, is unwinding after rehearsing the cabaret act she will perform at the Pizza Express Jazz Club at 10 Dean Street in London from March 13 to 17 (in association with Tom Croxton Management). The Tennessee native first aired her vocal chords at eight in the church choir and she hasn’t stopped since. Her family couldn’t afford a piano, but she taught herself to play her grandmother’s ukulele and sang in folk groups in her teens.

As we talk, she is casually chic in simple black topped with a peach kimono. With fresh-looking skin and wavy hair, she’s a bona fide Southern belle – with a serious craving for traditional Southern-fried chicken. She licks her lips at the prospect then settles for bottled water, impressively chugging an entire bottle without stopping.

To read more about Cybil Shepherd and see beautiful photos of her relaxing at home in the San Fernando Valley check out this week’s copy of HELLO! magazine on sale now.