BY JENNY JOHNSTON **BY ARRANGEMENT**
27 July 2007Daily Mail
(c) 2007 Associated Newspapers.
All rights reserved
Hayley Westenra has the voice of an angel and -- unlike her rival, Charlotte Church -- she behaved like one, too. Until now...
Most of us think we're doing pretty well in life if we reach the age of 20 with a few A-levels and a Duke of Edinburgh Silver Award. But then most of us aren't Hayley Westenra. The New Zealand singer -- or 'teen singing sensation' as she has been dubbed for most of her career -- always did operate on another level entirely.
By 17, she had sold two million records. At 19, she was named one of the ten Most Outstanding People in the World. While Charlotte Church -- her most obvious British contemporary -- was busy bingedrinking and working her way though a series of evermore disastrous boyfriends, Hayley had been appointed the youngest ever goodwill ambassador for the United Nations. On one particularly spectacular day she performed for President Bush, the Queen, Tony Blair and Condoleezza Rice, no less.
Now all of this adds up to an awesomely impressive CV, but it has come at a price. At the grand old age of 20, Hayley can conclude that the one thing she 'forgot' to do was to be a normal teenager. And it's only now that the gaps in her development are becoming obvious. 'It's quite odd,' she agrees, her perfect little face a picture of bewilderment. 'I'm an unusual case. In some ways I've been everywhere and done everything, but in other ways I've led a pretty sheltered life. 'People are always saying to me -- "you're so mature!". Well, yes, I am. I can stand up and sing for the most important people in the world. I can jet off round the world. But at the same time I haven't experienced a lot of things that most teenagers have.
'I don't know if I'd say I've been stunted -- I hope not -- but my parents always travelled with me. I wasn't out partying like other teenagers when they get that little bit of freedom. I haven't learned through my mistakes the way most people do. 'I suppose I'm not as streetwise as some people my age would be. I can be with other young people and think, "I feel like a child here". I'm not complaining. I wouldn't change how it has been for the world, but there are times when I'm shocked by how much I've yet to experience.' She means that she hasn't yet had a serious boyfriend, which is vaguely troubling because, like any young woman, she's in a hurry to know what that grand passion feels like.
Perhaps she's actually in more of a hurry than most. After all, she has spent most of her life singing about such things. 'It's ironic, isn't it?' she agrees. 'In the last three years I've been more and more interested in the lyrics of songs. Before, I was oblivious to what they were actually about. I was just enjoying the sound of my own voice. It sounds empty, but there are only so many songs you can identify with when you are 14, 15, 16. They are all about love and passion and big issues that no young person can possibly have experienced.
'Now, I'm starting to say: "Ah, that's what that song is about".' But there is still some way to go. She admits that she has never actually been in love. She says it quietly, and seems suddenly about 12 years old. 'I've maybe been to the "in lust" stage but I don't think I've been in love. But, yes, I would like to be. I want to see what all the fuss is about. 'I'm like any teenager in that regard, I think. I'd like to have someone. Eventually I'd like to settle down and have children -- not yet, but some day. It won't be easy though.'
Hayley Westenra isn't the sort of young star given to angst and melodrama, still less to bleat to Heat magazine about how she can't get a boyfriend, but somehow this makes her dilemma seem all the more real. 'Where do you meet people when you are me?' she asks, in all seriousness. 'In this business, even relationships that have a history are difficult to keep going. I've no hope. 'I might go on a date, but even if it goes well, it's hardly likely to lead to anything. What can you say? "That was nice. Now I'm off to the States for four months." It's not really going to happen.' Then there are those dates where your companion is just that little bit too interested in the fact that you've been for tea at the White House.
'I've had my fair share of those,' she nods. 'It's awful when you get that nagging voice in your head going "is he with me because he wants to be with me, or because of who I am?" 'I don't know how you get round that, but I hope that I'm a good enough judge of character to be able to suss them out.' Still she says all this without rancour, admirably accepting of the fact that you can't have a globetrotting career without making some sacrifices. Besides, she is making a determined effort to 'catch up' with her more normal friends.
Today, she is beside herself with excitement because she has just bought her first home and is waiting to exchange contracts. Since she was 16 she has been based in London, but now she is putting down roots -- a milestone in any young person's life. Standing on her own two feet -- in both professional and personal terms -- has meant an awful lot to her, but she is candid about how hard it has been. 'I suppose I'm only going through what everyone does, but I've done it in an odd way. I kind of left home at 14 when I came to London, but I didn't really cut the apron strings because one of my parents was always travelling with me.
'But two years ago I made the first real move to living independently when I was on my own for the first time. I remember the day my dad drove off to the airport, to head home to New Zealand. 'I'd been so adamant that it was time to stand on my own two feet, and so sure that I could do it. But when I watched him go I got this big lump in my throat and I thought "is this what I really want?". It was more difficult than I'd imagined.
'I had to do all that normal leaving home stuff -- like working out how to get a bank account, how to get the gas and electric sorted out, how to cook for myself -- but at the same time I was working, maybe away on tour for months at a time, or recording. '
It's been a bit odd, but I have been determined to do it all. I could just stay in hotel rooms and have people sort out my life for me -- but I don't think that would be particularly healthy. Would it?' Ah, the perils of the near child prodigy.
Hayley was 14 and busking with her sister in her native Christchurch when her big break came along. Before you could say 'Aled Jones' she had been signed up by a record company, trailed across the world, thrust into the limelight and hailed as the next Charlotte Church. She was even advised by the legendary Sir George Martin, one-time guru to the Beatles.
The biggest surprise is that the only casualty from her phenomenal rise has been her love life. It would have been quite understandable if the pressures of her existence -- not to mention the £3million that came with her first record deal -- had unhinged her somewhat. She is famously grounded, though. To date, there has been no great rebellion, no unsuitable love-interest, no tabloid scandal. She says her life is more odd than dysfunctional.
'One day I can be on stage in front of thousands, or doing the red carpet thing with all those photographers snapping away. The next I will be struggling down to the launderette with my washing. Or hopping on the Tube to do some shopping.' The launderette? The Tube? Where is her entourage? Her flunkies?
'Oh I don't have anyone like that. Someone asked me the other day if I had someone to pack up all my bags for me when I'm touring. I said no, my manager might give me a hand, but mostly it's just me. 'I suppose I could pay people to look after me, but I've kind of been brought up to think I should do these things myself. 'I don't even have a cleaner for my flat. I really should be able to look after myself, and that would seem like an indulgence.'
And Hayley doesn't do indulgence. She once spent £80 on a pair of Miss Sixty jeans and wore them every day for a year -- 'to get my money's worth'. Yesterday, her accountant came round to 'go through the credit card bills'. One imagines he was pleasantly surprised. She struggles to think of an extravagant purchase and can only think of the dresses she wears on stage -- 'some can cost a thousand pounds,' she says, aghast -- and her flat.
'My mum and dad were horrified when they heard what it cost. Back home you could get a huge house with a big garden for that, but I've told them that London is very different and that, anyway, it's a good investment.' At least she has the good grace to poke fun at her own sensible nature. We talk about her new album -- a collection of songs from West Side Story -- and I joke about it being more raunchy than what has gone before (hardly a feat, given that her previous recordings include Abide With Me). 'I wouldn't say raunchy exactly, but maybe a little more that way than what has gone before,' she laughs. 'It's more gritty, certainly, and it really was fun and much less serious than some of the stuff I've done.' So too with her own life.
She has always had a reputation of being very 'safe', perhaps even stuffy. Things have changed, albeit marginally. 'Before my friends were always giving me grief about taking everything too seriously. I've never been a party animal and there have been times where they've gone, "oh come on, let your hair down a bit". 'So I do now. I'm a bit more relaxed. I will have a drink, but I will get quite stern if people want me to go beyond that. I don't see that you need lots of alcohol to enjoy yourself. I'm quite old-fashioned like that.'
So she doesn't do Amy Winehousestyle-drunk then? She giggles. 'No, but I don't need a lot. One glass of Champagne and I'm quite merry. I'm a cheap date.' There is a steely side to Hayley, however, that suggests she knows exactly where she is going and how to get there. That means having a huge say in her career, as much as in what curtains grace her windows. 'Trying to take control of my own career has been a big part of my life over the past few years. I was so young when I started that everything was decided for me.
'But I've really pushed myself to get involved in all aspects of the business. There are times when I feel a bit overwhelmed, but you have to stand on your own two feet sometimes.' Had her parents insisted on retaining a huge say in her career, it seems they might have had one epic struggle on their hands. 'I have to say that I'm very grateful about how my parents handled the whole thing. 'They saw it was time to step back, and they did. It didn't get to the stage where they had to be forced out. I can see why that happens, but it would have been terrible.'
She jokes about being completely unstarry -- the most outrageous dressing-room demand she has ever made has been to request mineral water that is tepid, rather than icecold, but it's clear that she is capable of throwing a grown-up strop. 'It's good to be a diva sometimes,' she smiles. 'There have been moments when I've put my foot down over some song or arrangement. You have to, to make people realise that you truly are in charge of your own life.' West Side Story (Universal Music Classics And Jazz) is out on August 13.
Hayley and Vittorio Grigolo will perform songs from the album at Woburn Abbey tomorrow. For tickets, call 0845 225 6020.
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