Ground control to Major Sarah...
It is strangely difficult to equate Sarah Brightman’s success with the woman herself. The recordbreaking soprano has sold more than 30 million records during her three-decade career, at one point outselling the Rolling Stones. Yet at 52 years old she is still endearingly girlish, wide-eyed – even a bit fragile.
Brightman, who was married to Andrew Lloyd Webber for six years, is widely credited with pioneering the classical-crossover genre, spawning legions of similarly successful artists including Katherine Jenkins and Alfie Boe. But Brightman is remarkably humble about the effect she has had on the industry.
‘I just created beautiful pieces of music, which were sung in a classical way, because that was how I’d been trained,’ she explains. ‘But it’s a very different thing now. It’s not something I could do, would want to do, or really even know how to do.’
Brightman began her career as a member of Arlene Phillips’s popular dance troupe, Hot Gossip. She made her West End debut in Cats in 1981, the rave reviews of her performance encouraging a certain young composer to go to see her on stage. Brightman and Lloyd Webber married in 1984, and her stage career took off.
She was the first to play Christine Daaé in The Phantom Of The Opera – a role that Lloyd Webber created especially for her – as well as starring in Song & Dance and the Requiem Mass. Their artistic collaboration proved more successful than their marital one, however, and the pair divorced in 1990.
Brightman subsequently embarked on a hugely successful solo career. Her secret, she believes, is her sincerity. ‘I do whatever comes naturally to me at the time. The themes behind my albums are always what I’m going through in my own life. I think that’s why I’ve kept an audience for a very long time: all the pieces are really about feelings. There’s something about writing songs and creating albums that emotes people, because you’re giving away part of your soul.’
This soul-sharing can be exhausting – and the reality of touring quite gruelling. ‘Touring is incredibly uncomfortable. Especially as a global artist, you’re dealing with jet lag and you have a lot on your shoulders, as you’re taking up to 70 people with you. At the end of the day you have to walk on stage and be absolutely brilliant, because that lovely audience has come to see you. If anything goes wrong, everyone turns to me because it’s my party.’
This discipline and dedication applies when she’s in the studio, too. ‘Singing has a very technical edge to it – especially at the age I am now. I have to sing with vocal coaches every day. It’s like being an athlete.’
Which is just as well. For her new album, Dreamchaser, is inspired by outer space. ‘I remember watching the first man on the moon when I was a child, on a TV screen that kept breaking down. It inspired me to understand what human beings are really capable of.’
Brightman booked one of the first tickets on Virgin Galactic’s planned suborbital flights, but was subsequently selected by American space tourism company Space Adventures to join a 10-day voyage to the International Space Station on board a Russian Soyuz rocket. Over the past few months, she has been visiting Houston, and Star City in Russia, to undergo tests in preparation for the trip.
She aims to use her space flight as a tool to inspire people, especially girls and women, to pursue education in science and technology. ‘I had an absolute need to go, and felt huge relief when I discovered I could,’ she says.
Her mother, she reveals, cannot understand her wish to travel into space. ‘It took a long time for her to get her head around it. Why take the risk? I think as human beings we’re naturally inquisitive and some of us have a need to do things like this and be pioneers. It has nothing to do with ego; it’s a very personal, deep-down feeling.’
Brightman’s journey is scheduled for two years’ time, and she has already begun to undertake the demanding training required of an astronaut. ‘I’ve learnt that I can go much further both mentally and physically. I’m a lot stronger than I thought.’
She cannot anticipate how she will feel once she is in orbit, but she does know that she wants to break another musical record. ‘I would like to connect with the Earth through music, because I am a musician after all.
‘There’s nearly a two-second delay when you’re connected to the Earth from orbit but I’m sure that can be worked out, and I can sing with someone who’s singing from the Earth, or perhaps a children’s choir.’
She hopes the performance can be recorded, even though it won’t be up to her usual stage standards. ‘It’s not going to look great because zero gravity tends to make your face puff up, and I don’t know if I’ll be spending time bothering with make-up and stuff like that.’
Most of all, however, she is looking forward to gaining a different perspective of Earth. A philosophical sort of person, she knows that the different stance will dwarf even her meteoric success.
‘Every astronaut and cosmonaut I’ve spoken to says you see the planet for what it is, and it makes you understand more than ever how important it is to look after it. Earth is delicate, vulnerable and incredibly impressive.’
Dreamchaser is out now on Decca Records.
Brightman, who was married to Andrew Lloyd Webber for six years, is widely credited with pioneering the classical-crossover genre, spawning legions of similarly successful artists including Katherine Jenkins and Alfie Boe. But Brightman is remarkably humble about the effect she has had on the industry.
‘I just created beautiful pieces of music, which were sung in a classical way, because that was how I’d been trained,’ she explains. ‘But it’s a very different thing now. It’s not something I could do, would want to do, or really even know how to do.’
Brightman began her career as a member of Arlene Phillips’s popular dance troupe, Hot Gossip. She made her West End debut in Cats in 1981, the rave reviews of her performance encouraging a certain young composer to go to see her on stage. Brightman and Lloyd Webber married in 1984, and her stage career took off.
She was the first to play Christine Daaé in The Phantom Of The Opera – a role that Lloyd Webber created especially for her – as well as starring in Song & Dance and the Requiem Mass. Their artistic collaboration proved more successful than their marital one, however, and the pair divorced in 1990.
Brightman subsequently embarked on a hugely successful solo career. Her secret, she believes, is her sincerity. ‘I do whatever comes naturally to me at the time. The themes behind my albums are always what I’m going through in my own life. I think that’s why I’ve kept an audience for a very long time: all the pieces are really about feelings. There’s something about writing songs and creating albums that emotes people, because you’re giving away part of your soul.’
This soul-sharing can be exhausting – and the reality of touring quite gruelling. ‘Touring is incredibly uncomfortable. Especially as a global artist, you’re dealing with jet lag and you have a lot on your shoulders, as you’re taking up to 70 people with you. At the end of the day you have to walk on stage and be absolutely brilliant, because that lovely audience has come to see you. If anything goes wrong, everyone turns to me because it’s my party.’
This discipline and dedication applies when she’s in the studio, too. ‘Singing has a very technical edge to it – especially at the age I am now. I have to sing with vocal coaches every day. It’s like being an athlete.’
Which is just as well. For her new album, Dreamchaser, is inspired by outer space. ‘I remember watching the first man on the moon when I was a child, on a TV screen that kept breaking down. It inspired me to understand what human beings are really capable of.’
Brightman booked one of the first tickets on Virgin Galactic’s planned suborbital flights, but was subsequently selected by American space tourism company Space Adventures to join a 10-day voyage to the International Space Station on board a Russian Soyuz rocket. Over the past few months, she has been visiting Houston, and Star City in Russia, to undergo tests in preparation for the trip.
She aims to use her space flight as a tool to inspire people, especially girls and women, to pursue education in science and technology. ‘I had an absolute need to go, and felt huge relief when I discovered I could,’ she says.
Her mother, she reveals, cannot understand her wish to travel into space. ‘It took a long time for her to get her head around it. Why take the risk? I think as human beings we’re naturally inquisitive and some of us have a need to do things like this and be pioneers. It has nothing to do with ego; it’s a very personal, deep-down feeling.’
Brightman’s journey is scheduled for two years’ time, and she has already begun to undertake the demanding training required of an astronaut. ‘I’ve learnt that I can go much further both mentally and physically. I’m a lot stronger than I thought.’
She cannot anticipate how she will feel once she is in orbit, but she does know that she wants to break another musical record. ‘I would like to connect with the Earth through music, because I am a musician after all.
‘There’s nearly a two-second delay when you’re connected to the Earth from orbit but I’m sure that can be worked out, and I can sing with someone who’s singing from the Earth, or perhaps a children’s choir.’
She hopes the performance can be recorded, even though it won’t be up to her usual stage standards. ‘It’s not going to look great because zero gravity tends to make your face puff up, and I don’t know if I’ll be spending time bothering with make-up and stuff like that.’
Most of all, however, she is looking forward to gaining a different perspective of Earth. A philosophical sort of person, she knows that the different stance will dwarf even her meteoric success.
‘Every astronaut and cosmonaut I’ve spoken to says you see the planet for what it is, and it makes you understand more than ever how important it is to look after it. Earth is delicate, vulnerable and incredibly impressive.’
Dreamchaser is out now on Decca Records.