Classic Desert Island Discs: Annie Lennox

Desert Island Discs

BBC

Society & Culture, Music Commentary, Music, Personal Journals

4.4 • 13.7K Ratings

🗓️ 22 April 2018

⏱️ 36 minutes

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Summary

Another chance to listen to the singer-songwriter speaking to Kirsty Young in 2008. Her extraordinary voice has captivated us for decades 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." 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	Welcome to Desert Island Discs.
0:02.0	We're currently taking a break and so we thought it'd be a good opportunity
0:05.7	to showcase some of the best additions from our extensive treasure chest.
0:09.6	We hope you enjoy them.
0:11.0	This is the BBC.
0:13.0	Hello, I'm Kirstie Young and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Discs Archive.
0:18.0	For rights reasons, we've had to shorten the music.
0:21.0	The programme was originally broadcast in 2008.
0:30.0	My cast away this week is Annie Lennox.
0:43.0	As a pop star, she has seen phenomenal success.
0:46.0	Her extraordinary voice and stark glamour blazed a trail through the 80s.
0:50.0	When as one half of the group Eurythmics, she co-written, performed hit after hit after hit.
0:56.0	Going at alone, she has soared just as high.
0:59.0	Three Grammys, six Brits and an Oscar provide convenient shorthand to sum up her solo achievements to date.
1:05.0	Yet it seems, fame, fortune and the adoration of millions isn't quite enough.
1:10.0	Much of her time and energy these days is devoted not just to her two teenage daughters,
1:15.0	but a clutch of humanitarian causes from live-8 to amnesty international.
1:19.0	She says, I need to find meaning in my life to make me happy
1:23.0	and that has been an ongoing struggle.
1:26.0	Annie Lennox, you once described yourself as an intriguing phrase as an elegant survivor.
1:31.0	I wonder what you mean by an elegant survivor.
1:34.0	That's an interesting question to land me with, first of all, an elegant survivor.
	...

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