Charlotte Church

Charlotte Church sings like an angel and works like the devil. The prize is international fame and lots of Euro dollars. The price is long hours, incessant travel and a total lack of privacy.

"I don`t see the world - I just travel it," says Church, shouting into a mobile phone over the din of a football game on the telly at her aunt`s house in Cardiff, Wales. "I basically see the world from the air, through the window of a limousine or the glass doors of a hotel. When I go somewhere to do concerts or record, I only catch a glimpse of the streets between the airport and the studio."

For the 14-year-old child soprano who became an overnight sensation three years ago with her debut album "Voice of an Angel" (Sony Classical), life on the road can be a bloody chore despite first-class air travel and five-star hotels.

"There is no time for fun and play when I`m out there - it`s all work," she sighs. "If I have a few hours to myself, I prefer sightseeing, but then I get a camera stuck in my face.

"I never dreamed that being famous would be this much work," she continues slowly. "There are tremendous opportunities because of my singing, of course, but you have to be on 24 hours a day. Even when you`re jet-lagged out of your mind, you can`t be yourself - you must always show energy, be bright and bubbly. You can`t say anything wrong, never look sloppy, and always wash you hair."

One of Church`s latest stops was San Francisco, where she performed with the San Francisco Women`s Philharmonic Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony Chorus, the San Francisco Girls Chorus and the San Francisco Boys Chorus. The one-hour television special, hosted by fellow child star Haley Joel Osment, is called "Heroes for the Planet" (Saturday, May 20, 7-8 p.m., A&E), sponsored entirely by the Ford Motor Co.

The event pays tribute to individuals dedicated to local and global environmental issues. Osment, the 12-year-old Academy Award nominee for "The Sixth Sense," introduces special segments on the internationally recognized environmentalists in the audience and spotlights individual achievements. Church joins him as they share their views on empowering local heroes and shed light on their contributions to future generations. Ford pledges more low-emission vehicles for sale everywhere.

Church was there for the program - which taped a week before the Earth Day 2000 Festivities in Washington, D.C., and elsewhere - because she truly cares about the world she lives and works in.

"I`m very much aware of the damage people do to this planet, because looking down from an airplane 35,000 feet in the air, I can see polluted oceans and rivers, burning forests and thick, choking air. It means that animals are losing their habitats and dying. It means that human beings are poisoning themselves."

Despite the gravity of the event`s underlying causes and working under extreme pressure for two days, Church had a fabulous time in San Francisco.

"The main reason I enjoyed myself was the chance to meet and work with Haley," she explains. "He is such a lovely person and a great actor. I think he should have gotten the Oscar this year for `The Sixth Sense,` even though Michael Caine (winner of best supporting actor in `The Ciderhouse Rules`) is British.

"And I was impressed by how calm and nice Haley was, even when people kept throwing bad jokes at him," Church continues. "Like, `I hope you can`t see me.` I asked if he got tired of it, and he sort of smiled and said, `Yeah, I kind of do.` He`s very generous, too. He bought me a wonderful jewelry box and a really gorgeous bracelet of silver with an aquamarine stone that I wear all the time. We now communicate via e-mail, but he`s only 12 and too young for me ... "

The wholesome Welsh lass is still globe-trotting, promoting her 1999 album "Charlotte Church" (Sony) and preparing for another recording session later this year. Outside recording studios and concert halls, she usually is found on European and American talk shows, including "Oprah," "The Today Show," "Good Morning America," "Late Show With David Letterman," "The Tonight Show Starring Jay Leno" and "The Rosie O`Donnell Show."

An extra bonus for Church - a small-town girl at heart - is the opportunity to meet some of the most famous people in the world, including Pope John Paul II at the Vatican, Bill and Hillary Clinton in the White House, George Michael, Elton John, the Spice Girls, Kiri Te Kanawa, Placido Domingo, Andrea Bocelli and Queen Elizabeth II.

She regards the president as the most impressive personality of them all.

"He has an amazing charisma about him that is felt by each person in a room full of people," says Church, still in awe. "When he focuses his attention on you, you forget there are other people there. It was a pleasure to meet the pope, too, a man with huge responsibilities. But he is old and appeared quite ill at that moment, so I didn`t have a chance to talk to him. It wasn`t a private audience."

Born to a housewife and a former window-screen installer, the only child ("the worst kind, I`m ready for rehab") started singing pop music for fun when she was a little girl but eventually turned to classical music at the suggestion of a voice teacher.

"Until then, I had never listened to classical music," she says, "although my mum played classical guitar until she was 18. My father doesn`t have a musical bone in his body."

Church has no real explanation for her enormous success.

"It just sort of happened," she says, giggling.

Her voice launched millions of albums in 1997 after one performance of "Pie Jesu" on the British TV show "Talking Telephone Numbers." Days later, she was signed by Sony and soon became the youngest artist to have a No. 1 album on the classical charts in the United Kingdom. She travels with a tutor who takes her to task for three hours a day, but returns to her old school - where she is in the United States equivalent of eighth grade - between gigs.

An avid reader and a history buff, Church is fascinated by Cleopatra and deeply interested in all things Egyptian. She intends to spend two months visiting Egypt`s great archeology sites to mark her 18th birthday. With no time for a boyfriend, she spends most of her rare time off hanging out with family and friends.

"When I`m home, I hide in my bedroom for days," she says. "I chill out and don`t even think about all the things that have happened to me lately. I just go with the flow."

Visit Copley News Service at www.copleynews.com.

(c) Copley News Service

Article continues below

---

advertisement

---

Author: Eirik Knutzen