Annie Lennox took the Grammys by storm recently when she paired up with Hozier for his hit single, “Take Me to Church.” She followed that up with her own rendition of “I Put a Spell On You” and brought the house down. I was blessed to get a chance to sit down with Ms. Lennox prior to the Grammys to chat.

What’s your secret to maintaining such a long career? Is a matter of reinventing yourself while staying true to your spirit?

I don’t know what the secret to longevity is. There’s no secret. I don’t hold a secret. I think ostensibly, for me, music is really the key to everything. In the sense that the caliber, the quality of your work is really the thing that will stand up at the end of the day. You could do a million things to amplify it, but if the music isn’t strong… We’re only here in this moment now. When I was a much much younger artist, I just wanted to make the best music I could make with Dave and the Eurythmics and by myself later on. That was my motivation – to make this music and be creative.

Annie Lennox Photographed by Daniel Gluskoter

Back in the ’80s, it seemed like if you had a band, you had to have a music video.

Not really, but it amplified your work. It brought it into people’s living room. We spent years previously, Dave and I, in another band before the age of videos in the ’70s and we were doing the circuit. So you’re playing in clubs, in bars, then you get through to university campuses and then theatres and you sort of go up that way and it is hard, hard work. Then the video came and it gave you a different medium to express your work. It gives you a visual element combined with music. It was just fantastic. Not every band liked videos. They felt it was an obligation. For me and Dave, it was just wonderful.

So you guys had artistic input…?

Totally! And control and involvement and concept, everything. We were always right there. It wasn’t like you had a director with a concept and a stylist and a whole bunch of people come in.

Of all the songs in your repertoire, do you have a personal favorite?

I love all the songs I sing. It’s really really hard to identify one out of hundreds because they all have qualities – it’s like having a family. Do you love one of your children more? I love them all, for all different reasons.

Nostalgia is full of jazz standards. Were they all your favorite songs?

No, not necessarily. I didn’t know them all, by any means. I kind of vaguely knew some of them, some of them I didn’t know at all. I found them. I discovered them. The criterion for the selection of songs was to be in love with them. It’s always that way. Then you make friends with them, you absorb them, you learn them, you assimilate them, and you find your own language through this wonderful songs, you find your own way to express them, embody them.
Do you think there will be follow-up albums – a blues version, a Motown version?
I don’t know. I take it as it comes. I see what you’re saying. There’s always a “could be.” Right now I’m just enjoying the ride. It started with this idea. I was kind of intrigued with the notion of stepping into this genre that I hadn’t explored in recording.

What’s the first song you ever remember singing to an audience – whether it was family or in public?

My first song that I ever sang to an audience was when I was six years old – six or seven. It was called, “White and Silver, Gold and Blue…” and I was so terrified. [Lennox smiles fondly as she sings a few bars from the song.] Every year in my hometown in Scotland they had a music festival. I competed with 60 other kids, all going on the stage in the music hall in the center of town, very formal. With an adjudicator with a little bell when they were ready. You had to go up and sing two songs and then get off and they’d be writing. It takes a while. Hours. And then at the end the adjudicator would come up with this thick ream of paper with all the comments and literally read it out to every kid and give you a score.

Did you place?

Yeah! Oh yeah.

So there are concert photographs of you that sell for hundreds, thousands. What do you think of art photography?

I love it! I’m fascinated by it, intrigued by at. I love taking pictures. I’ve worked with some extraordinary photographers like Richard Avedon. I’m very stimulated by what I see – color, texture, dark and light.

What book are you reading right now or your favorite book?

I like picture books. It’s terrible. I have a little bit of ADD. There’s a photographer – Vivian Maier. There’s been a documentary film about this extraordinary photographer, but she died and nobody knew about her. She was completely anonymous. This guy discovered her stash of photographs. He was so intrigued by them that he decided to really look into her and ultimately he managed to print her photographs up for exhibition. I’ve been looking at books of prints of her photographs.

What makes you most happy in life right now?

Being with my husband and being with my family is a joy. I love being in the studio. I think I would like to explore making music for films.

Like Lord of the Rings? (Lennox won an Oscar for “Into the West” from the soundtrack for Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

Not really. Lord of the Rings was like a cherry on top of the cake. They’d been working on that trilogy for seven years. I was asked to come in with that team. I enjoyed it. Dave and I composed the soundtrack to 1984 in 1984. It’s a long long time ago and I enjoyed doing that. I think I’m at the stage where I’d like to make some soundtracks to films I felt akin to, that I could actually contribute something. I am a composer at the end of the day.

Writer Connie Wang with Annie Lennox

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