March BEAT

CHARLOTTE CHURCH: THE GIRL WITH AN ANGEL'S VOICE

by Tom Lounges

    Welsh-born aria singer, Charlotte Church, has been zealously tagged by
her native U.K. press as the –“Schoolgirl Soprano”– and the name suits the
14-year-old just fine.
    “Well, I am a school girl and I am a soprano,” she giggles. “After all,
they could call me worse things now couldn’t they?”

    That there is an ongoing retail boom in all things “teen” has not been
lost on Church, who teamed up with 13-year-old country music singer, Billy
Gilman, on the title track of her third and latest international CD, “Dream A
Dream.”   The cover art on that 19-track holiday collection, released last
October, was created by 17-year-old visual arts prodigy, Amanda Dunbar, who
in the past year has become one of the most successful commercial artists in
the U.S.

    “It’s great working with other young people on things like this because
we’re all kids and we all are having fun with our careers. It was a
wonderful experience doing that song with Billy, because he is a lovely boy,”
says Church of Gilman, who’s debut album went gold in four weeks. “I love
what we did there. I think the track is totally wicked.”

     Even though it’s a seasonal album with a short retail shelf life, Church
and her record label are pleased with how well it did. “We put a lot into
making it and I think in the end we made a really good CD,” said the singer.

    Church’s two previous albums – “Voice Of An Angel” and “Charlotte
Church” – found the singer incorporating a blend of opera, modern and
traditional selections and have jointly sold over 6 million copies (half of
those in the United States alone). In addition to that, Ford Motor Company
recruited the teen for a major advertising campaign.

   Although she admits to owning all the CDs by Britney, Christina and their
ilk, Church stands far apart from those other teen singers.

   Those girls may attempt to lay claim to the overused term – “diva” – but
Church, who has become the best-selling artist ever signed to the Sony
Classical label, has proven to be one truly worthy of the claim.

    Church began singing at age three and was discovered at age 12, when she
accompanied her aunt on a local U.K. television program. She was there to
introduce her aunt (also a singer) on a British TV talent show. When the
show’s host found he had extra time to fill, he recruited Charlotte on the
recommendation of her aunt, to sing some light opera on the show.

    Within a few short months of that fateful public debut, she became the
toast of the classical music world and was soon being wooed by record labels.
Church was personally signed by Paul Burger, then the CEO of Sony U.K.

   Since then, the lass has performed before the likes of Queen Elizabeth,
Pope John Paul II, former President Bill Clinton and other world leaders.

   While singing in front of heads of state is not an unnerving experience
for Church, she confessed that meeting pop stars like Will Smith and Ricky
Martin face to face at last year’s MTV Awards left her speechless.

    “I’m a lot like any other kids my age. I love pop music,” she said.
“I buy all the albums that I can. I think Madonna is great. I really like TLC
and Jennifer Lopez and Puffy and so many others.”

    Church said that Puffy Combs actually approached her with the idea of
doing a duet together, but that her record label was very reluctant to allow
the angel-voiced innocent to work in cahoots with the “bad boy” of the
record biz.

    “After doing my two other CDs, doing a Christmas album just seemed to be
something of a natural progression,” said Church. “I love holiday music, so
when the idea came along to make this next one a Christmas CD, I was all for
it.”

   Fans should not expect another album from her for at least a year or two.
“These last few years have been rather busy for me and it’s all been a bit
of a blur really,” she said. “I’m not going to do an album next year and
I’m not even sure about doing one the year after. I want to concentrate on
my school work and just chill with my friends for a while.”

    When it does come time for her next album, Church said she knows that she
wants to try different things. “I want to spend the next year or so
experimenting with my voice a bit,” she said. “I really don’t know what I
might want to do, I just want something different from what I’ve already
done.”

    A summer US tour is now underway. “I want to perform,” she said. “I
want to spend my summer on the road, touring the United States. It will be
good fun.”

    The young star is also ambitious to stretch her wings as an actress. She
loved the experience of guesting on the CBS-TV drama, “Touched By An Angel.”

    “I had fun doing that and would really like to do more acting,” she
said. “I think I would like to do a sophisticated comedy or maybe a drama
that was based on something historical. I’m really open to a lot of things
right now and we are getting lots of scripts sent our way, both for films and
television.” The notion of doing live musical theatre also appeals to the
artist.

    “I don’t mind working, I just want to have fun doing it,” she giggled.
“I’m young enough to try everything so that’s what I’m going to do.”

(Charlotte Church will perform on May 3 at The Chicago Theatre.)