Post by stevemacdonald on Feb 18, 2006 0:22:48 GMT
America next world for Westenra to conquer
February 17, 2006
BY MIRIAM DI NUNZIO Weekend Editor
Don't call singer Hayley Westenra a diva. It just makes the 18-year-old New Zealander burst into peals of laughter.
"It's one of those terms that people like to use. Maybe it sounds glamorous, but it just makes me laugh," she says during a phone conversation from her home Down Under.
Westenra toured the United States last year on the heels of her 2004 debut album, "Pure." At 18, she has sold more than 2 million CDs worldwide, enjoying most of her success across the pond and in Asia -- for now. Described in a New York Times review as having "the voice of angel," Westenra is constantly described in the same breath as the latest Charlotte Church or Sarah Brightman or even Enya. She shrugs off those comparisons, too
Westenra's vocals, as evidenced further by her release last year of "Odyssey," (Universal Classics), are truly pop-classical (yes, with splashes of Enya around the edges), with
a voice that's equally at home on Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now" as it is on Vivaldi's "River of Dreams."
The young star, who played Carnegie Hall when she was just 15 and who has performed duets with the likes of Andrea Bocelli, Russell Watson and Jose Carreras, opens for Il Divo at the Chicago Theatre tonight.
Q. You're only 18, but you and music go way back.
A. I learned to play violin, piano and the recorder at a very young age, and I studied ballet. But I realized when I was about 8 or 9 that music was my passion. I used to sing around the house, and it wasn't until I got my first solo in a school Christmas play that me and my family learned that I had a real voice.
Q. What's it like to sell 2 million records at 17?
A. It was just overwhelming. I was suddenly singing for presidents and the Queen and traveling the world, and it was all really surreal. In a lot of ways, it still is.
Q. Do you get the star treatment when you're back home?
A. [Laughing] I'm pretty well-known here, so the paparazzi do follow me around. Grocery shopping takes half a day, just to try to lose the photographers and to stop to say hello to fans and such. In London, where I live most of the time now, I'm not as well-known yet, so I can still venture out pretty easily and anonymously.
Q. Tell me about your "busking" days in New Zealand.
A. It started as a pastime when I was about 11. I was part of a children's group and we were performing at a festival. When we broke for lunch, some of us didn't have money for it, so we just started singing on the street corner. Then we realized we liked it and we could make money doing it. The hardest part is breaking the silence, but once you start singing and the people gather round, it's quite nice. I loved it. I was getting great pocket money out of it. I used most of the money to pay for the first real recording of me doing a few songs. That little demo CD led to me getting a record contract in New Zealand.
Q. Who's on your iPod these days?
A. Joni Mitchell, Secret Garden. I adore Celtic folk music, so I have lots of that on there. Andrea Bocelli, too.
Q. What's your guilty pleasure?
A. On the road I'm very disciplined when it comes to sweets, but when I'm home I just live for cookies and chocolate. I can't help it.
(Source: www.suntimes.com/output/music/wkp-news-westenra17.html )
