April 05 Newsletter

The General Election has distracted me from April's Newsletter and this is a bit belated. Sorry. Just like banks are getting rid of tellers and clerks in favour of electronic systems, through my recent promotional efforts I have come across a strange new phenomena in the mediaworld. Reputable newspapers have prepared questionnaires for celebrities to fill in order to make into an article. This cuts out the journalist as the responsibility is then on the publicist to extract the answers and pass them on - or make them up on behalf of their clients. I found I was spending a lot of time writing articles/interviews as part of my record promotion. Here is one requested by a broad sheet which I forgot to hand in, so it is unexpurgated, unedited and unpublished - until now - for your exclusive enjoyment. It is very tongue in cheek and NOT to be taken seriously.

1. My idea of perfect happiness is right now, in this moment, feeling at one with the world and comfortable within myself. I no longer confuse happiness with rapture, which is fleeting and based solely on getting what you want (though this is good too!). Nowadays happiness is more a feeling of being completely at ease, with what has happened in the past which led me to this moment, and with the problems and challenges I have to face in the future which will lead me to where I want to be. Not being anxious about not knowing how I will do something yet, not panicking about the things I have not done, living on the edge of chaos while waiting for the moment of spontaneity to arrive. Letting things be. I suppose I am talking about a state of mind, a way of being that is perfect happiness for me.

2. My greatest fear used to be driving at heights. I did not pass my test until I was 38, though I got it first time. The instructor allowed me to drive barefoot which helped immensely. I once distinguished myself by getting stuck on the French Corniche with a trail of cars a mile long behind me. I was absolutely paralysed by fear. I cured myself by taking daily trips over the M4 Chiswick flyover playing Frank Sinatra tapes.

3. I like Jeanne D’Arc. She was either completely deluded or completely enlightened! I played her on stage once in a production of George Bernard Shaw’s "Joan". I had to learn pages and pages of speeches full of fiery rhetoric. It nearly did my head in. I took to rehearsing my lines in a field in Ireland watched by a herd of very puzzled Dairy Short Horn cows. I recently found a wonderful life size ancient statue of her in a French antique market. Jeanne now stands proudly next to the wood fire. Maybe that is tempting fate.

4. The living person I most admire is Daisaku Ikeda. He is my Sensei: my Buddhist teacher and mentor. He is the international President of a Buddhist lay organisation, SGI (Value Creation Society) that is also a non-governmental member of the United Nations. I have had the privilege of meeting many of the great, clever, original, famous, successful, loaded and powerful in my time on this planet but I have never come across such a person who did not abuse their power or was not damaged by it - except Sensei. Instead of putting his immense talents to his own selfish use he offers them to benefit others. He has devoted his life to building the SGI: teaching Buddhism and promoting peace all over the world, and engaging in dialogue with statesmen and philosophers. I have just sent him a letter telling him all about last year, enclosing updated photos of my family and friends and all my latest EMI releases including, "The Best Of". I feel so lucky to know him and be taught by him.

6. I have two cars in the UK and two in France, all automatic (why would anybody want to drive with gears?), and an old post office van that we share with my stepson and his wife. They use it for transporting materials for his new cottage, which he has unwittingly demolished and is trying to put back together again. We use it for taking things backwards and forwards to France. It is really uncomfortable so we take it easy, stopping off to buy wine and to stay in the odd chateau on the way. In France we have a diesel Nissan Terrano that is absolutely fantastic for driving in the snow in the Pyrenees. I also have an ancient BMW cabriolet, which has retired there. It lives in the barn in the winter and as soon as the sun comes out, we haul it out, take down the hood and make our way round the fields of sunflowers, sweet corn and vines. In the UK we have a much newer soft-top BMW and a really old Renault Clio. She has done 90, 000 miles and is still going strong. I need to replace her soon but I really do not like the new Renault Megane design. The ads are great but if I had a bum like that I’d get a pair of those magic knickers.

7. I have too many faults to mention. I am far too self-conscious for my own good. I am sometimes in a state of acute embarrassment. It is improving with age, as I try and develop my more altruistic sense of self. My husband says I have an ego the size of a small planet. So way to go then….

9. I collect seashells and seeds from all over the world.

10. I am always getting distracted and losing things. If I have to, I carry my credits cards. I never carry cash. It seems to disappear too quickly and the accountant gets sulky. I like handbags but I feel silly holding them. If I am on business I take a black leather folder for documents and notes but my PA usually ends up carrying it. My daughter, Grace has just managed to find me a very small shoulder purse, which leaves my hands free to gesticulate. This purse is to carry my mobile as apparently it pulls my clothes out of shape and it makes me giggle when it vibrates in my pocket. I’ll let you know how I get on with it.

11. I would like to live in a wooden tree house on my land in Grenada. My husband wants to blindfold me when we travel abroad because everywhere we go I see a house I want to live in. It is a habit I am trying with moderate success to overcome.

13. The thing I most dislike about my appearance is that it seems more important to other people than it is to me. Although I admit it is always an asset to be pleasing to look at when you have something important to say.

14. I am afraid I am not yet sufficiently evolved to disclose my worst secrets to the world. I am sure one day someone will do some dramatic exposé. Then I will issue a denial, then we will do a photo spread in Hello for loadsa money, then ‘friends’ will sell their exclusive serialised version to the Daily Mail, then we will split up and do another photo spread in OK with our new partners on honeymoon in Bali, compliments of the Editor, then I will have a face lift and my bum surgically removed, then I will check into a fame rehab clinic in the Arizona desert, then I’ll write a ghost-written book about it, then I’ll have a TV come-back on a talk show, all fat and bloated and telling stories about meeting Elvis and sleeping with Mick Jagger, I’ll host a game show and sponsor Sunshine Variety Club coaches for infirm rock idols, I’ll be made a Dame for services rendered, and finally I’ll be laid to rest in The Between a Rock’n’a Hard Place Hall of Fame… No.

I think not.

Being an enigma is the way for me.

15. My favourite wintry smells are apple wood burning in the fire, cooking with spices that remind me of picking nutmeg and vanilla pods in Grenada, the aroma of a St. Emilion grand cru bursting from a gigantic crystal glass.

18. My last trip was to the fridge.

19. I am currently reading "1968" by Mark Kurlansky. If you have any gaps in your Sixties memory I thoroughly recommend it.

20. I am always story telling. They say I am very good at it and that I am at my most convincing when I am fibbing. I say that I am just honing my performing skills!

21. To my deep shame I voted for Tony Bliar first time round. What a horrific caricature of himself this man has become. See what I said about the effect of power? If TB comes on the telly I turn it straight off. Rory Bremner’s impression of him has more integrity than what he thinks passes as the real thing. I do not want to get personal but does he really think that we are all taken in by his third rate acting and first class lies. He seems to particularly piss women off. Anyone that can employ the likes of Alistair Campbell to promote them and then tries to convince us of his honour and honesty has got to think that we are complete fools. I for one do not like to be treated with disrespect. Do you? See what I mean about Jeanne D’Arc? I suppose I’ve just kissed away the Dame Sandra of Dagenham honour.

25. I don’t think anything is worth dying for. Life is too precious. There are some things that must be said and done that other people will want to kill you for. But that is their choice, their responsibility, not mine. They will make their cause and they will suffer the consequences. This is karma. I would prefer to take the most difficult path, to live for and live by my beliefs.

26. Ideally, for me, yes I believe in monogamy and marriage. I can only handle one thing at a time. I have been married three times, which must say I am hopeful! In the past I have only been able to achieve monogamy for two ten-year periods, though my first husband managed less time than me! However my latest (and final) husband and I have been together for twelve years now. It seems like we have known each other forever. When you are with the right person monogamy is the most natural thing. But I do not think it would have been possible for me to have such an amazing relationship now without having experienced my two previous marriages. So I am incredibly grateful to Nik and Jeff for that.

27. See above

30. Yes, well I meant it at the time.

31. I am always asking, "Why?" It drives everyone mad!

32. I regret not starting to write earlier. I began when Nik gave me a word processor for Christmas in 1990. Windows if not doors opened for me at that moment.

33. I am often ecstatically happy, mostly with my kids or with my husband in our daily ritual of reviewing the day and philosophising while dipping our feet in the river.

34. I paint to relax. Not canvases but doors, cupboards, boxes, furniture with intricate patterns and pictures. My biggest project was my "Millennium table, bench and chairs". I covered them in paintings of all my family depicted as mythological creatures to symbolise all the things I most love about them. I wove faeries, angels, and pixies around them to indicate Buddhist concepts. I did this locked away in my garden studio during the summers of 2000 and 2001 to prepare myself for the legal battle to retrieve the copyrights in all my recordings. Without the use of these copyrights I had never been able to present my recorded work to the public properly and in its entirety. It has been a thorn in my side since my parents signed my first record contract on my behalf when I was seventeen. I had made many abortive attempts to get it back over the years, the main problem being that my original manager who had made the deal and was herself therefore morally if not legally responsible did not support me because she was frightened. Because I did not want to hurt her I left it until after her death but by then I had missed, through the passage of time, many legal opportunities to challenge the contract. By 2000 I felt brave enough to have a final go - on my own. As you can imagine it was very stressful. I painted like a demon. In 2003 when I had finished my Millennium work, I started pruning the rose garden during the final negotiations to keep me calm. The rose beds were practically bald by the time we reached agreement, and had to be replanted. But it was all worth every sleepless night and stomach churning moment. I am now the proud owner of all my recorded work. EMI have started digitally remixing all my masters and putting out the kind of releases I have always wanted. Last year they did a 4CD box of my French, Italian, German and Italian releases, followed by an amazing compilation called "Nothing Comes Easy". It was so beautifully done and with such care that it made me cry. This year they are releasing a "Best Of" which I will be promoting on telly and radio as I am so proud of it.

35. Sex? Depends on who’s asking.

37. If you can dream it you can do it.

37.5. Be the change you wish to see.

40. No I do not believe in heaven or life after death. I am a Buddhist so I believe in the eternity of life, which is a whole different ballgame.

41. I would like to be remembered as a wife, mother, artist, therapist, writer, feminist, humanitarian, bon viveur and Buddhist - am I being greedy?

42. You can never have enough of life - there’s always more…

Something Amusing:

Most people think Morrissey is a miserable old sod. This is not exactly true but when he does say something funny it makes it all the more amusing. Like when he was paying tribute to the late Kirsty McCall, "She was a supreme original. Though not to my knowledge an original Supreme."