Q. How did you get your first
recording contract?
A. I started busking with
my younger sister, Sophie,
when I was 11 because I
wanted to raise money to
make a studio recording
as a souvenir. After we’d recorded it, Mum made
little cardboard covers and we’d
send a copy to anyone who asked
us for it. But it wasn’t
economic to keep doing these
one-offs so we eventually got
1,000 copies made and they got
sent round to some record companies.
Universal picked it up and offered
me an album!
Q.
Is it hard –
as a young girl – to deal
with the pressure of worldwide
fame?
A. Sometimes I wish I could see
more people of my own age – I’m
surrounded by managers and industry
people. I can be so busy performing
that there’s not a lot
of time for socialising and going
out. I get really homesick and
miss my family, but I’ve
got a really solid group of friends
at home. I can just go back there
and fit in. I know I might sound
naive but I don’t see myself
going off the rails. I think
my experience of fame has been
very different to the person
everybody compares me with – Charlotte
Church. It’s been a lot
more gradual. We don’t
really get paparazzi back in
New Zealand. The attitude to
fame and celebrity there is very
different.
Q.
What is your favourite book?
A. Wuthering Heights. I studied
it a couple of years ago for
my English GCSE exam. Going over
it in such depth gave me plenty
of time to appreciate it. It’s
quite a dark book but it really
gripped me. If I had simply bought
it for a light read I don’t
think I’d have finished
it but analysing the themes and
sub plots helped me get into
it. It was interesting to be
reading it just at the same time
I recorded Kate Bush’s
song Wuthering Heights on my
first album. My record company
advised me against doing that –
it’s a song so closely
associated with her they thought
it would be asking for trouble.
But I got a huge popular response
from it and a lot of people my
age hadn’t even heard it
before.
Q. What’s been your most
embarrassing moment?
A. Singing to a small group of
people that included Tony Blair,
George Bush and the Queen. It
was a very small room, just me
and a piano, very intimate. I
was scanning the group and all
these faces I recognised kept
popping up – very nerve-wracking!
Q.
What is your
favourite TV
programme?
A. I love Friends
because I can
guarantee myself
a good laugh
whenever it comes
on! I am usually
in hysterics
for the entire
show and I really
like Jennifer
Aniston – I
thought she was
great in Along
Came Polly with
Ben Stiller.
Q.
What
was
the
first
single
you
ever
bought?
A.
I
never
buy
singles, I always
buy whole albums.
But one of my
favourite songs
from an album
is Alicia Keys – If
I Ain’t
Got You. She’s
a very talented
singer songwriter
with an amazing
voice and it’s
about how nothing
matches up to
true love. I
was playing it
all the time
when I was in
LA driving around
and feeling lonely.
It’s tough
enough being
an outsider there,
but the feeling
is doubled because
the whole place
is spread out.
September 2005 issue
of 'Young Performer' Magazine.
