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Charlotte Church in concert with the Charlotte Symphony
Concert
Preview
Charlotte
Observer (Thanks to Steve)
'Breaking boundaries'
By Michael Wilkins
The Charlotte Observer
Published: 2/28/01
When Welsh singing sensation Charlotte Church attended her first Grammy
Awards ceremony - an important occasion for any young recording artist -more eyes by far were on a certain controversial rapper than on the youngest
star of classical music.
But no matter what happened in Los Angeles' Staples Center, the day was a
milestone: It was her 15th birthday. Church - who will perform songs from three successful albums when she makes
her Charlotte debut next week - agreed to an interview by telephone the
morning after the recent Grammys.
"Thank you!" Church bubbles over the telephone after being reminded of her
birthday. Asked if she had time to celebrate, her voice drops a bit.
"No, I went to the Grammys," she says. "So we were kind of busy, busy, busy,
which was cool. There's nothing like having Madonna and Eminem spoil your
birthday!"
Church is the top-selling female classical performer in the world. Her debut
album, "Voice of an Angel," came out when she was just 12 and reached No.4
on the British pop charts, No.28 on the U.S. charts. She is the youngest musician ever to have a No.1 album on the United Kingdom
classical charts, the youngest to crack the top five on the British pop
charts, the youngest in the top 30 in America. Discovered at 11 on British television - singing Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Pie
Jesu" - she has performed for Queen Elizabeth II and Pope John Paul II. Yet
she's also known from her appearance as a presenter on 1999's MTV Music
Awards, and, at last month's Grammys, got the chance to hobnob with Elton
John and Destiny's Child.
In other words, she's anything but your stereotypical opera diva. Her age
alone flies in the face of convention in the classical music world, which
rarely seizes on youth as a marketing tool." It's kind of strange, breaking boundaries," Church says. "If somebody
looked at me and didn't hear me, they would probably think I was singing a
completely different kind of music." Church herself brings up the similarities with teen-age pop idols Britney
Spears and Christina Aguilera. She's comfortable with the comparisons about
how she and they are marketed, with one caveat: "I'm wearing more clothes."
"When it comes to the pop marketing machine, you're told what to wear,
you're told what to do, you're told what to say, blah, blah, blah," she
continues. "With me, I say my own thing and wear my own thing and do my own
thing. Nobody actually tells me what to say."
"You have a lot of pop stars who go through training in learning how to deal
with journalists. I didn't do that. If I wasn't comfortable by now, I'd be
worried about myself." After spending eight days in Los Angeles, Church was flying back to Wales
for two weeks of classes at Cardiff Howell's Secondary School. She would fly
back for the performance in Charlotte. Off the top of her head, she didn't know how many months out of the year she
traveled. Her mother said it was probably seven. After three years of recording and performing, Church sounds like a veteran
of the world tour." People say, `Ah, it must be so exciting, traveling all around the world.'
But you don't see the whole world. You just travel around it.
"It's kind of frustrating when you've got an 18-hour flight to Singapore and
then you're just there. Sometimes, you get some time off. Like when we were
in Rome, we got some time off. When we were in Hong Kong, we got some time
off. A lot of times we do, but sometimes we don't if it's a really short
trip."
Church's latest album, "Dream a Dream," came out in October. Its title track
is a duet with the 12-year-old country-music phenom Billy Gilman.
Asked what advice she offered Gilman, Church quickly shot down the idea:
"Well, I thought it would be patronizing for a 14-year-old to give advice."
Asked about her own future, Church said she planned to "take a year out"
from school after matriculating from Howell's next year. After that, she
said she would eventually attend a university and perhaps start a film
career. "I'm not really sure," she said. "There are lots of doorways open to me at
the moment. I can go in lots of different directions with my music - go a
little bit more crossover..."I love learning about philosophy and ancient history and anthropology, so
I'd like to go do that - and travel." To see the world, not just go around it.
- CO
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