| | | | | | | | | |
In her own words...
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Miss Sarah has been asked questions about everything from her musical education to her marriage to Andrew Lloyd Webber to her eyebrow-raising CLASSICS album cover. We have searched far and wide for interesting little tidbits from those various interviews and we hope you will enjoy reading them. They reveal a woman who's lucky enough to do what she enjoys and because of that, to bring pleasure to millions of people.
She seems shy, as a true Leo often is, but she knows what she wants and will not let the perceived vision of her as Christine from THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA be her epitath.
We hope you enjoy those few moments taken from interviews both old and new...
Enjoy :)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | On maintaining an image...
This is the thing about the work I do. A lot of it is to do with fantasy. I don't want to see pictures of Hollywood stars in their dressing gowns taking out the rubbish. It ruins the fantasy.
THE INDEPENDENT, November 8th, 1997. By Deborah Ross.
On having beautiuful things...
I think if you have a lot of things they end up ruling you rather than you ruling them, even if you have people to look after them. It's not a responsibility I like.
THE INDEPENDENT, November 8th, 1997. By Deborah Ross.
There's no place like home...
I live on a plane more or less.
BBC's BREAKFAST TELEVISION, September , 2003.
On the success of HOT GOSSIP...
I was elated. I enjoyed the success very much. Any money I received I blew on cars and clothes. I didn't realise you had to pay tax.
THE INDEPENDENT, November 8th, 1997. By Deborah Ross.
The strongest memories of the HOT GOSSIP period...
Having a great time. It was an amazing time. It was the late seventies and we were going around Europe, doing all the tv shows with The Jackson Five, Kate Bush and Chique. The french group. It was a fascinating time for me.
ABC NEWS radio show, Australia, April 2003.
The 70ies... Another suitcase in another hall, so to speak...
My career ended there basically (laugh). Punk came in and no one wanted any of my music. I had to find something in the entertainment industry where I would have regular work. Theatre seemed the obvious choice. Went to an audition of CATS, got in and...
FAB magazine, June 5th, 2003. By Elio Iannacci.
On STILL being asked about STARSHIP TROOPERS and PHANTOM in Britain...
Whenever I come back to England I go through a time warp.
BBC's BREAKFAST TELEVISION, September , 2003.
On Britain's view of her, or how one is never a prophet in one's country...
I’m probably going through my heyday in the rest of the world right now, but not here. That sums England up, they remember me for "Starship Trooper" and being married to my ex-husband (Andrew Lloyd Webber). That’s it. I’m nothing there. What do they say, never a king in our own country ?
ROCKING THE KASBAH, Tony Phillips interview.
On not being a particularly big fan of musical theatre...
Because you are succesful in it, does not mean necessarily means that it is your cup of tea. It is just not, what I would prefer to do. I prefer to go and see a movie instead of going to a musical theatre. That is my taste.
ABC NEWS radio show, Australia, April 2003.
On marriage...
I can't be a wife. I'm not that sort of person. Wives have to compromise all the time.
THE INDEPENDENT, November 8th, 1997. By Deborah Ross
On those revealing pictures for the CLASSICS album cover...
I'm very pleased with the pictures. There was no air-brushing. I didn't even work out ! These days, it's normal for women to still look good into their 40s and 50s. The opera world was shocked ! But the image is very classical. It's taken from Botticelli's portrait of Venus, who's just standing in a seashell with her hair covering her body. It's very sensual. It represents the vulnerable side of me. Although I'm not wearing any clothes, it comes across very well.
ST LIFE !, December 2001.
On the photo shoot in Marrakech for the HAREM album cover...
There were crawly things in the water, picking at my ankles. It took five days in the desert outside Marrakech to get that picture, with me standing in a shallow lake. At sundown on the last day, these things in the water were starting to nibble, and I was pushing them away with my feet.
TORONTO STAR, June 8th, 2003.
On making Ofrah Haza's voice a part of the song MYSTERIOUS DAYS...
This is so sad because you know Ofrah has obviously passed away. My producer actually produced her last album before she died, I think she died a year later, and she had at the time asked if I would be interested in doing a duet with her and we weren't able to, because of our schedules. I think TIME TO SAY GOODBYE, one of my albums, was doing well at the time and I was rushing all over the place and she also was, so it never came together. However when we were working on this album and a particular song called MYSTERIOUS DAYS my producer suddenly said, you know, I keep hearing Opra's voice in this. And he said I am going to go through (the tapes), I know there's a piece that she wrote and that we ended up not using it for whatever reason. And he went through all the tapes and found this piece, it was the right key, the right time and he said I can't believe that, it just fitted totally so we rang her people in Israel and said, you know, would it be all right to use this piece because Ofrah did want to do a duet with Sarah, you know, and they said yes of course, you know, go ahead, so we've finally got to do the duet together and it's wonderful and I hear her vocals and, I don't know, it's a wonderful feeling and I like it that the spirit of somebody who still goes on through their vocals and their music.
SOUNDCHECK radio show, New York. By John Schaffer.
On redoing WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD for the album HAREM...
I have always loved this song as we all do, and to me it has always made me feel sad. There is a poignancy to it, there was another side, an edge to it, so during the production we reversed strings, we worked with it until this really came out, became more edgy and I was actually very nervous going into it because it is such a classic tune but I think I have always been an interpreter of music and if I take on a classic song I will take it on only if I feel I can bring something else, something new to it, and I am quite pleased with the result, a lot of people are enjoying this version.
SOUNDCHECK radio show, New York. By John Schaffer.
Why HAREM is such a musical departure for her...
Vocally, this is different for me. I actually took off a lot of time from live work, which I’ve never done before. I’m known as an interpreter of music, singing songs and arias, but I wanted this to be more of an atmosphere album as opposed to just singing a song. I wanted the voice to be layered and interesting. It took quite a while to do.
ROCKING THE KASBAH, Tony Phillips interview.
Why she chose HAREM as the title for the album...
It means forbidden place if you translate it. It’s in your imagination, but you don’t really go there. You maybe don’t want to go there, but it’s a mystical place. It’s ancient. People have journeyed there and come back changed.
ROCKING THE KASBAH, Tony Phillips interview.
The inevitable questions of war and politics when discussing HAREM...
I don’t think in political terms. I don’t have anything to say about that. I don’t know enough about it. I love art. I love culture. I’ve always felt very integrated in many different cultures because of how I’ve been brought up and how I’ve lived. But in many ways, I only understand about music. It’s about music, not any political situation. It’s just unfortunate, these situations do arise in the world, but time will pass and things will sort themselves. People will see things more clearly and get things into perspective
ROCKING THE KASBAH, Tony Phillips interview.
The concert look this time around...
EDEN was theatrical with curtains and big drapes and LA LUNA had a cold, moon look in a blue stylized way. This (HAREM tour) will be more contemporary - a lot of bodies on stage and a digital projector.
FAB magazine, June 5th, 2003. By Elio Iannacci.
On the current filming of the PHANTOM OF THE OPERA movie...
I wish everybody luck with the project, because I think it is quite a hard piece to represent within film as it was very much for the theatre.
HELLO! magazine, October 7th, 2003. By Peter Robertson.
About that certain ex-husband with the hit West End show...
When I was with my ex-husband (Andrew Lloyd Webber), he didn’t really take in things like Indian food and culture. I was into it and used to cook him Indian food. So when I asked him for the song, he said yes, it’s not my music anyway so be my guest.
(For her album HAREM, he offered her the A.R. Rahman song "The Journey Home" from his hit West End Bollywood musical "Bombay Dreams")
ROCKING THE KASBAH, Tony Phillips interview.
On maybe becoming Dame Sarah one day...
Oh God ! I haven't even thought of that. It sounds like I'm in a pantomine !
HELLO! magazine, October 7th, 2003. By Peter Robertson. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | |
