Annie Lennox
Desert Island Discs: Archive 2005-2010
BBC
4.4 • 804 Ratings
🗓️ 11 May 2008
⏱️ 37 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Kirsty Young's castaway this week is one of our most successful singer-songwriters, Annie Lennox. Her extraordinary voice has captivated us for more than a quarter of a century and, as one half of the group Eurythmics and as a solo artist, she's sold tens of millions of records and won fistfuls of awards. As a teenager, her musical ability was her passport out of her home town of Aberdeen. At that point, a career as a flautist beckoned: but, after studying in London, she felt she could never make her mark as a classical musician. It was a chance encounter with aspiring pop-star Dave Stewart that set her on an entirely different path.
For much of the 1980s, all her creative energy went into making music. But when her children were born, she says, her priorities shifted. Now she devotes much of her time and energy to supporting different humanitarian causes. She says: "I need to find meaning in my life to make me happy; and that's been an ongoing struggle."
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: I Say A Little Prayer by Aretha Franklin Book: Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle Luxury: Suncream.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You're about to listen to a BBC podcast, but this is about something else you might enjoy. |
| 0:05.4 | My name's Katie Lecky and I'm an assistant commissioner for on demand music on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:10.7 | The BBC has an incredible musical heritage and culture and as a music lover, I love being part of that. |
| 0:17.4 | With music on sounds, we offer collections and mixes for everything, from workouts to helping |
| 0:22.7 | you nod off, boogie in your kitchen, or even just a moment of calm. And they're all put together |
| 0:28.7 | by people who know their stuff. So if you want some expertly curated music in your life, |
| 0:34.9 | check out BBC Sounds. Hello, I'm Krista Young, and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Discs Archive. |
| 0:41.8 | For rights reasons, we've had to shorten the music. |
| 0:44.9 | The program was originally broadcast in 2008. |
| 1:13.9 | Music My castaway this week is Annie Lennox. As a pop star, she has seen phenomenal success. Her extraordinary voice and stark glamour blazed a trail through the 80s, |
| 1:15.7 | when as one half of the group Eurythmics, |
| 1:19.1 | she co-wrote and performed hit after hit after hit. |
| 1:22.2 | Going it alone, she has soared just as high. |
| 1:24.6 | Three Grammys, six Brits and an Oscar, |
| 1:27.9 | provide convenient shorthand to sum up her solo achievements to date. |
| 1:33.4 | Yet it seems fame, fortune and the adoration of millions isn't quite enough. |
| 1:37.8 | Much of her time and energy these days is devoted not just to her two teenage daughters, |
| 1:42.6 | but a clutch of humanitarian causes, from Live Aid to Amnesty International. |
| 1:46.2 | She says, I need to find meaning in my life to make me happy. And that has been an ongoing struggle. Annie Lennox, you once described yourself, |
| 1:51.7 | this is an intriguing phrase, as an elegant survivor. I wonder what you mean by an elegant survivor. |
| 1:57.4 | That's an interesting question to land me with, first of all. An elegant survivor. Yeah, I think perhaps |
| 2:04.9 | sometimes, you know, it's very interesting. When you are someone in the public eye, you have to accept |
... |
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