Saturday, April 20, 2013

Dazzling Diva

I’ve interviewed some rather prominent sports figures, including Michael Phelps and Wayne Gretzky. I had the pleasure of interviewing John Grisham and William Shatner. In the music world, I’ve interviewed John-Paul Jones and John Densmore, who sent me a signed drum skin afterward.

My interview yesterday with Sarah Brightman was among the most exciting I’ve done! The world’s biggest-selling soprano was in Montreal, promoting her eleventh studio album, titled, “Dreamchaser”.


I learned her immense talent is only outdone by her gracious demeanor.

Credited with pioneering the classical crossover genre, Sarah Brightman has performed with such international musical stars as Andrea Bocelli, Josh Groban, Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras. She sang at the Beijing Olympics before an estimated worldwide audience of 4 billion people.

The original cast album of Phantom of the Opera, which, of course, included Sarah Brightman, is the biggest selling cast album of all time, having gone six times platinum in the US, nine times platinum in Germany and 21 times platinum in Korea.

Her new album reflects her fascination with space.

In Houston, she received medical clearance to begin training as a cosmonaut, with a view to visiting the International Space Station in 2015. When I asked her whether she was looking for anything up there in space, she explained she wants to see the planet from a different perspective. She believes that if everyone had the chance to see how beautiful and delicate our planet is, “We’d look after everything more and actually take care”.

She's about to launch a new world tour which will bring Sarah Brightman back to Montreal for a show in mid-September! She spoke enthusiastically about performing and visiting Montreal.

At one point in the interview, I did mess-up the name of her new album. As terrible as I felt, she quickly put me at ease.

She politely agreed to pose for a picture and once the interview ended, she said, getting up from her chair, “Thank-you for the lovely questions”, which made any jitters I might have had - entirely worthwhile!

Listening to her sing, I highly doubt any energy drink gives you wings.

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