Title:
Today Show
Date of transmission: Monday 15
April 2001
Channel: NBC
Copyright 2001 National Broadcasting Co., Inc.
NBC News Transcripts
You
may wonder why a teen-ager all of 15-years-old would want to
write an autobiography. Well, if you had sold millions of
albums and sung before the queen, a president and the pope,
you, too, would probably have a good story to tell.
   
ANN CURRY: At 15-years-young,
Charlotte Church has accomplished all those things and much
more. Now you can read about her remarkable life in a new book
called "Voice of an Angel: My voice--my Life,"
rather, "So Far."
Charlotte Church,
good morning.
   
Ms. CHARLOTTE CHURCH ("Voice of an Angel"): Hi.
CURRY: I heard--I saw you giggle when you just watched that
tape.
Ms. CHURCH: Yeah.
CURRY: What happened?
Ms. CHURCH: It was just--ooh...
CURRY: You were so young then, right?
Ms. CHURCH: Yeah. Yeah.
CURRY: And your voice trembled a little bit at the top of one
of the notes.
Ms. CHURCH: Yeah, and it was like, 'Oh, stop that.' I don't
like watching myself, though.
CURRY: Well, you know, the thing is, though, that people
watching you are now saying, but she's still so young now.
Ms. CHURCH: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
   
CURRY: And, I wonder if you--as you were writing this book if
there ever was a moment, there had to be, when you thought,
'But wait a minute, I'm still a teen-ager. What have I--what
do I have to say that would be worth an autobiography?'
Ms. CHURCH: Yeah, exactly. And that was the obvious thing the
whole way through. I said, 'Well,' you know, 'I don't want it
to sound like, you know, I'm just trying to cash in on my
success by putting out a book or something like that.' I
wanted it just to say, you know, to--because I-I've been able
to live such an amazing life so far. And I just wanted to tell
people about it.
   
CURRY: But why? Why? Why did you want to share the story of
your life with people?
Ms. CHURCH: Because, I mean, I've got to do so many cool
things. And, you know, not many people get to meet the pope
and the president. And--and royals, you know, all in the space
of three years, which is kind of mad for me to even take in.
And, you know, I wanted to try and be an inspiration to other
people as well. People who want to succeed but don't feel they
have the--enough guts to do it type thing, or don't think
they're right for it. Because I never wanted to be famous. It
was never really like a goal or an ambition. So--and I think
it is quite an inspirational book just to kind of say, 'Look,
you can get out there and do it as well.'
   
CURRY: Because it took guts for you, didn't it? Even though
you had this beautiful voice.
Ms. CHURCH: Yeah.
CURRY: In what way? I mean, what was the hardest part of that,
finding the strength to do it?
Ms. CHURCH: There's a lot. I mean, you just--just taking
everything in at that--a young age and working.
Because--because I do have a career, since I was 12, which is
madness. And--and also this--when you go out on stage and so
much is expected of you, there's a lot of pressure, so you
have to try and take it all in, but stay calm and stay
grounded and do the best performance you can. Because at the
end of the day, my job is just to sing and not all the
celebrity stuff is kind of at the side.
   
CURRY: You know, but see, adults watching themselves on tape
become so angst ridden, actors or singers or performers. I
mean, how does a 15-year-old teen-ager assess, basically,
criticism from the world, from people outside of her work when
she's so young?
Ms. CHURCH: Well, I mean, I don't--I don't--I don't mind
people criticizing how--how I sing and stuff like that. And,
you know, I try and--I try and take it all in and think, 'OK,
well, that's a fair point. Well, I'll try and improve that.'
You know, if you say--if it's a family criticism, I get all
defensive. 'Oh, no, I don't,' type thing. But then, yeah, I
still take it in. But, I mean, that part of it can be
sometimes quite difficult, say, if you've done like the best
concert of your life that you think, and then, you know, a
critic goes and completely slams it. And that can be quite
difficult. Like, 'Oh, well, I thought I did quite well,' type
thing. But, you know, it all--it all comes as part of the job.
And I just wanted to explain to people that you know, yeah, it
can be done. If I can do it, I'm 15, and--and, you know,
my--and I still need my parents to be there and kind of help
me through it all.
   
CURRY: They've been--they've really been grounding for you.
And, in fact, they were the ones who first saw your talent,
your family.
Ms. CHURCH: Yeah.
CURRY: And they have, actually, musical backgrounds
themselves.
Ms. CHURCH: Yeah.
CURRY: Your mother was a musician, she played the guitar...
Ms. CHURCH: Yeah.
CURRY: Your aunt and also your grandfather.
Ms. CHURCH: Yeah.
CURRY: And--and they recognized you at the age of three,
singing, what, a Gloria Estefan song?
Ms. CHURCH: Yeah.
   
CURRY: What happened?
Ms. CHURCH: It was just like--I used to--I used to know all of
the songs on the radio, and I used to be able to sing in tune,
but then they started to notice that I had a voice when I was
about eight. And--I used to sing all Whitney Houston songs and
that type of stuff. And then when I was nine and a half I went
to singing lessons, and I developed this classical voice. And
that was completely by accident as well. It's just because I
wanted to do something different because everybody back then
around my age was singing Whitney Houston songs and Michael
Jackson songs. And I was like, 'Oh, I--I just want to try
something new.' So, I did, and this is where it got me, which
is kind of strange.
   
CURRY: You took lessons when you were nine.
Ms. CHURCH: Yeah.
CURRY: And at 11, you got your big break in something called
the big, big talent show.
Ms. CHURCH: Yeah.
   
CURRY: What happened?
Ms. CHURCH: It was--actually, my auntie--my auntie got onto
the show, and you needed a friend or family member to
introduce you onto the show. So, I introduced my auntie, and I
got a record deal. It was mad. It was--it all happened so
quickly. And, it's just been a hurricane ever since.
   
CURRY: Hurricane. Is that how you describe the last few years?
Ms. CHURCH: Most definitely.
CURRY: Because the agents started calling, the managers
started calling. What did you get, a got a five album deal.
Ms. CHURCH: A five album deal with Sony, yeah. And, I got an
agency and everything. It was just like unbelievable. And I
was like, 'This is my auntie's big break, not mine. What are
you doing? Go and speak to my auntie,' type thing. And so, I
mean, I never expected fame so young. I think I--I knew
that...
CURRY: How could you? You didn't have time to expect anything.
Ms. CHURCH: Exactly. I mean, I knew I wanted to sing in some
way. I mean, even if I didn't take it up as a professional
career, just sing for, you know, my own pleasure and
people--my family's pleasure and stuff like that. And, so when
it all--kind of all this fame came, it's just like whoa, time
to step back. And, but, you--I still try and appreciate
everything that I get. Because it is very hard--it is very
easy to just kind of not think twice about it and kind of just
expect everything then. But I try and take myself out of the
situation and look at it from a different point of view.
   
CURRY: How--how has actually writing this book helped take
yourself out of this situation and look at your life and help
you, kind of, get an idea as to where you're going to go from
here and to where?
Ms. CHURCH: Yeah. Yeah. Most definitely. I mean, although it's
quite hard for me to make career moves because I'm 15 so I
keep changing my mind every five minutes. But I think I
definitely want to explore different types of music because my
voice is quite versatile. And I'd like to do some
collaboration with people. I think that would be really cool.
   
CURRY: Different types like classical, more classical or more
pop kind of...
Ms. CHURCH: Mixing--mixing loads of different sounds together
in different cultures and stuff like that. I think that would
be really, really cool and trying to create a different sound.
And I'd also like to try some acting as well.
CURRY: Oh, really?
Ms. CHURCH: Yeah.
CURRY: Oh, wonderful.
Ms. CHURCH: I look forward to that.
CURRY: Charlotte Church, we have so much, then, to look
forward to from you. And you are such a talent.
   
Ms. CHURCH: Thank you.
CURRY: Thank you for joining us this morning.
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