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The
Daily Mail |
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A year in the life of Charlotte |
The
garden of the Sunset Marquis Hotel should be an oasis of
tranquillity amid the hustle of Los Angeles. But that calm is being
shattered by a raucous, off-key rendition of Little Miss Muffet,
yelled by a 13-year-old schoolgirl, who would rather be winding up
her long-suffering mother than getting on with her homework.
To
hear her mangling nursery rhymes, you wouldn't think that this girl
was in town to sing at the legendary Hollywood Bowl, nor that she
possessed a pure, soprano voice of astonishing richness and beauty.
And you'd find few clues to this extraordinary double life if you
looked at the folder beside her, containing her school history
project: a crayon drawing of an erupting volcano and the words
"Vesuvius AD79, by Charlotte Church, 7S."
But
what would make you think again is the fact that over the past 12
months, her debut album, Voice Of An Angel, has sold more than two
million copies,making Charlotte the youngest solo artist ever to
appear in the American album charts. When I ask her to name a few of
the stars she has met on her travels, she reels off an astonishing
list, including Boyzone, Tony Blair,Will Smith, George Michael,
Elton John, the Spice Girls and Robbie Williams.
Charlotte
is as deliciously indiscreet as any other teenage girl. A standard
anecdote consists of a wildly enthusiastic declaration of how
wonderful or charming someone is - followed by a revelation that
would make their toes curl. Sometimes, she does it right to their
face, such as the time she bumpedinto David Bowie backstage at the
MTV Awards.
'He
was really nice,' she recalls. 'He had his photo taken with me. He
said, "Hi, I'm David," and I said, "I'm Charlotte,
and my mum's a huge fan. She saw you walking down the corridor and
said, 'Oh, that's David Bowie!' But to be honest I was more
interested in Lauryn Hill." Then he stroked under my chin and
went, "Aaahh - sweet."
Then
there's President Clinton. Charlotte was invited to Washington DC to
sing for Bill at a fund-raising gala: "He's very, very
charming. You can see why he's President. The only thing I couldn't
get over was the size of his nose. You have to look round it to be
able to see his eyes."
Charlotte
is a Catholic, so of all her many encounters, her meeting with the
Pope was the one that impressed her most. "He was so frail. He
was as white as this tablecloth, he was so pale. But then he was
really radiant. I kissed his ring and he blessed my rosary beads,
which used to belong to my great-grandmother. Then he held my hand
and he said, 'La Cantante,' which means 'the singer.'"
In
June, Charlotte sang for media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, when he
married his third wife Wendi Deng aboard his yacht Morning Glory.
'It was fantastic,' she says. "Everything had to be kept
secret. Rupert was saying to my mum, 'I hope the Press doesn't get
here because it'll be a huge shambles.' Mum (Maria Church) said,
'Yeah, the Press manages to ruin almost anything.' And my manager
Jonathan went, 'Well done, Maria.'"
Murdoch
had sent his private jet to fly Charlotte from Los Angeles to New
York. She was overwhelmed. "All the bathrooms were gold, with
padded loo seats, and they had Chanel perfumes, men's aftershaves,
everything! The shutters on the windows went up and down
electronically. The seats were leather and turned around. They had
two huge, long sofas. There was every luxury you could imagine.
"When we got into New York, I rehearsed on his yacht. Everyone
was dressed up to the nines, but because the boat was antique,
nobody could wear shoes. So they had fabulous dresses, but no shoes.
We sailed from New York to the Statue of Liberty. Rupert and Wendi
got married at sunset, then I sang Ave Maria and Pie Jesu - we told
them they were for a funeral, but they insisted - and O Mio Bambino
Caro (Oh, My Dear Baby).
"Rupert
and Wendi were both lovely. In the papers the next day it was all,
"She's marrying him for his money, and he's marrying her to-
extend his businesses in Asia," but I thought they seemed
really happy together. Her parents didn't speak a word of English,
but she is so beautiful, really slim - just gorgeous. He managed to
drop the ring during the ceremony. Everyone was down on their knees
searching for it."
When
I first met Charlotte, a little over 12 months ago, just before
Voice Of An Angel was released, she was already beginning to mix
with celebrities. She had met Gloria Gaynor, Bobby Davro and Richard
and Judy I saw her finish recording a couple of tracks at the
studios of BBC Wales, and then we sat and chatted in the tiny
conservatory of her parents' neat, but modest, terraced house in
Llandaff, on the outskirts of Cardiff. We had takeaway McDonald's
for lunch: "Cool, fab!" trilled Charlotte when she
discovered she could have a Barbie Happy Meal. If I'd had to take a
bet then on what would happen to Charlotte, I'd have predicted
a modest Christmas novelty hit, followed by a swift return to
adolescent obscurity.
Which
all goes to show how wrong you can be. As Maria Church says of her
daughter's career, "The roller-coaster's still going up."
A year ago, Charlotte dreamed of singing at great opera houses like
La Scala in Milan. Now she wants to be an actress, and Hollywood
studios are knocking on her door. While we were in Los Angeles, her
manager, Jonathan Shalit, was meeting a top screenwriter who wants
Charlotte to star as a child prodigy, with Anthony Hopkins playing
her teacher. And she was about to fly to Utah to film an episode of
the top-rating American TV show Touched By An Angel.
The
whirl of activity surrounding her is breathtaking. This week she is
mounting a British and global media blitz. Tomorrow sees the BBC TV
transmission of her Voice Of An Angel concert special. On Monday
night, she helps launch what is thought to be the single biggest
spend in advertising history as the voice and face of the Ford motor
company's worldwide millennial campaign. Next Saturday, she will
sing live at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff before the Rugby
World Cup Final. On November 16, her second album, entitled
Charlotte Church, will be released And finally, she will be a
guest star - as an actress, rather than singer - in the Christmas
episode of Heartbeat.
Further
examples of her frenzied schedule can be seen in what she has done
in the week or so before our interview. She began by performing at a
Sony conference in Bournemouth. From there she went back to Cardiff
to record the Ford soundtrack with renowned producer Trevor Horn,
before jetting to New York to be a presenter at the MTV Awards. She
went straight from there to Geneva, where she sang at a conference
for Pepsi Cola. Then it was back to London to sing at an open-air
Prom in Hyde Park, before flying off to Los Angeles, where her stay
was interrupted by a quick trip to Chicago and back (a return
journey of some 3,400 miles) to record an appearance on Oprah.
"It
does get exhausting," says Charlotte, as she tucks into her
usual hotel brunch: a glass of Diet Coke and 18 pieces of bacon. She
has to have so much because, with adolescent pickiness, she insists
on removing every scrap of fat - "I can't stand it, it makes me
heave" - leaving 90 per cent of each rasher discarded on her
plate. In the 12 months since we last met, the physical change in
her is astonishing. Straight lines have become curves and a little
girl has become a young woman. Her knapsack comes from Prada. Her
purple plastic shoes are Miu Miu. But her personality is exactly the
same. She's bright, bubbly and a little bit bumptious. If she's
sometimes full of herself, that has less to do with her
stardom than the quick-witted cockiness you'd expect in a highly
intelligent teenager who scored straight As in all her summer exams.
"I
had no idea what was going to happen," she says, thinking back
to the release of Voice Of An Angel, "and I didn't really
care, either. If it worked, I'd be glad. If it failed, I'd just go
back to school. I wasn't thinking, 'God, I'll die if I fall flat on
my face.' I just thought, 'If it happens, it does.' And it
did!"
Amid
all this jetting about, Charlotte still has to be educated. A tutor
accompanies her wherever she goes, and each day everything stops for
three hours or more for her tuition. She also attends a private
school in Cardiff whenever her schedule allows. "My friends are
so good," she says. "I get them backstage passes, so they
get to meet their favourite pop stars, and loads of free CDs.
So they just think I'm a great friend to have. We have long catch-up
sessions when I get back. We don't really talk about the fame thing.
We talk about who I met and what they were like."
Great
efforts have been made to keep only child Charlotte normal. She has
certainly generated well over a million pounds in earnings already,
but it is put in a trust fund and she is given no more pocket money
than other teenagers. Her finances are handled by family friend
Terry Kenny. "She'll come to me because it's her dad's birthday
and she wants œ20 for his present, and Maria will say, 'Ten pounds,
no more.' She'll be a very wealthy young lady one day, but she'll
have her feet on the ground." says Kenny.
Maria
and James have both given up their jobs to travel with Charlotte as
her chaperone and personal assistant. Maria is fiery and says
exactly what she thinks, while James is calmer and more laid-back.
"He's great at ironing," says Maria. "Before one of
Charlotte's concerts he'll have the bath run and the clothes all
ready. Me, I'll be running around with my hands full and a pair of
knickers in my mouth."
James
has no regrets about giving up a management career in a security
company to act as his daughter's assistant. "All I'm working
for is my daughter's happiness and I'm proud of that," he says.
"Last year she was away so much, I missed a lot. Maria was
dealing with all the problems on her own. She had to make every
decision because I wasn't there. Charlotte needs a personal
assistant and either I do it or we have to bring someone else in at
very high rates."
As
we sit beside a pool at the Sunset Marquis Hotel, I ask James what
he would be doing if he were still at his old job: "I'd be
stressed-out, big time," he says grinning. Elsewhere in the
garden are Charlotte's grandparents, Gary and Maureen Cooper. It is
only the second time Maureen has left the country - the first was to
see her grand-daughter perform for the Pope. Now they are here to
see her at. the Hollywood Bowl. Gary was a musician himself in his
younger days, playing in rock 'n' roll bands. He can remember
growing up in Cardiff when doors were unlocked, and you could always
go round to the neighbours for tea if you came home from school and
your mam was out. A strong seam of old-fashioned, working-class
values runs through the whole family, and that above all is what
prevents Charlotte from being carried away by her good fortune.
Later
that evening, we all go to the Hollywood Bowl, a magnificent open-
air amphitheatre set into the slopes of the Hollywood hills. It is
the first of a three-night gala, celebrating the end of this year's
concert season. Charlotte will perform three songs: Pie Jesu, a
jolly Italian aria called La Pastorella, and Danny Boy. She comes on
in a striped, floor-length gown whose adult formality only serves to
emphasise her youth. Then the orchestra begins and from her tiny
frame emerges a voice of startling maturity, far stronger and richer
than it was when she recorded Voice Of An Angel.
The
last notes of Pie Jesu die away to be replaced by rapturous applause
from the 18,000-strong sell-out crowd. Charlotte bows and then, as
the clapping goes on and on, she looks down at the front of the
crowd where Gary Cooper is standing, puts her finger to her mouth
and goes, "Ssshhhh, granddad, stop whistling!"
Next
she introduces La Pastorella, as follows: "This is all about a
little shepherd girl who flirts with all the boys, but only has eyes
for one - not at all like me." The audience laugh. Charlotte
realises the double-meaning of what she has said, giggles nervously
and blurts out, "I don't flirt with anyboys!" You can just
feel 18,000 hearts melt at the wonderful contrast between the chatty
kid with the Cardiff accent, and the diva with the glorious voice.
If there's one thing a Hollywood audience really understands, and
appreciates, it's genuine star quality. And all it takes is one look
at Charlotte Church to tell them that she has it.
by David
Thomas, Daily Mail
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