The World of SadeIn a recent interview with Sade she talked about her health and how she takes care of herself when she is on tour. She always takes medicine for her throat, vitamins and her own hot water bottle with her. She does not use the heating system in hotels because it is bad for her throat. She also said that she makes sure she eats lots of hot food like soup but never has drinks that are very cold. Sade talked about the importance of a good breakfast and knew that she should eat more than half a croissant. However, she likes to sleep late in the morning and does not have enough time to eat more. Sade is very close to her family. She speaks to her mother often when she is on tour and sends her postcards from every place she visits. She loves England very much, but she loves Spain even more and hopes to buy a place there. Finally, Sade explained that she does not like to do many interviews because talking a lot is bad for her throat.
What do you think? 1 What sort of person is Sade? 2 Is she like other pop stars? Is she like you expect a pop star to be? 3 Is there anything you like about her? Is there anything you don’t like? 4 Imagine you are going to interview your favourite singer or film star. Write down four questions you would like to ask.
Writing task If youlike Sade’s music, write her a letter. If you have never heard Sade’s music before, write a letter to one of your favourite singers. • Say why you like his/her music. • Ask anything you would like to know about his/her life. Begin your letter like this: your address, your city, today’s date
Dear (Sade), I love all your music and am writing to you because I wanted you to know this. I also…
¯ Read and retell the text. Speak about your favourite rock star. FREDDIE MERCURY King of Queen L Freddie Mercury was born Farookh Bulsara to Persian parents on 5September, 1946. His birthplace was the island of Zanzibar, off the east coast of Africa. When he was eight, he was sent to school in Bombay, St Peter’s English boarding school just outside the city. His friends there renamed him Freddie, a name which his family also adopted. Among the talents he discovered at school were sport and music, and it wasn’t long before he had formed his first band, The Hectics. Those days in Bombay were some of his happiest: successful and fulfilled at school, and with servants to attend to his every need at home. Alter finishing at St Peter’s he went back to his family’s flat in Zanzibar, but when he was18 he was uprooted again. In 1964, the Bulsaras fled to England from civil unrest in Zanzibar. Their new home was a semi-detached house in the drab London suburb of Feltham, a far cry from the exotic lands of Freddie’s youth. But the Swinging 60s were an exciting time in Britain. Freddie had always enjoyed art, and in 1966 he began to attend Ealing art school. He was coming under the influence of the new music scene and was intrigued by Jimi Hendrix. He had an unfocused desire to perform, but hadn’t yet found the musicians, with whom to form a band. But that was soon to change. In 1968, a physics student at London University’s Imperial College, Brian May teamed up with former dentistry student, Roger Taylor, and art student, Tim Staffell, to form the group Smile. Staffell was a fellow student of Freddie’s. He started taking Freddie along to Smile gigs. In 1969 Freddie was introduced to a group called Ibex and began singing for them. They travelled up and down the country playing small pub gigs, but were going nowhere fast. For a while Freddie sang with a group called Sour Milk Sea, and when they broke up he set up his own band, Wreckage. That also didn’t last long. However, Freddie was still hanging out with the members of Smile. When Tim Staffell decided to quit the band, Freddie took his place. And so it was that in April 1970 the band that would be Queen came into being, the line-up being completed in 1971 when John Deacon joined on bass. ‘Queen’ was Freddie’s idea. Brian thought it was too camp, but Freddie insisted. He also decided that he needed a new name, and became Freddie Mercury. It took the new group a while to get going. They did the usual round of gigs in colleges, pubs and clubs. Then, in 1972, they were talent-spotted and managed to swing a deal with record industry giant EMI. The band looked like no other band of the time. Standard rock garb was jeans and T-shirts, but when Queen strutted onto the stage they did so in silk costumes, dripping with jewellery. The group’s debut single, ‘Keep Yourself Alive’, fIopped. So did their first album, Queen, but their second album, Queen II, did better. The band’s first real success came in 1974 with ‘Seven Seas of Rhye’. And from then on Queen never looked back. The album Sheer Heart Attack and the classic single off it, ‘Killer Queen’, were huge hits. And then in 1975 came the phenomenon of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’. ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ almost didn’t make it as a single. Its weird mix of musical styles and the fact that it is so long made executives at EMI very nervous. Then DJ Kenny Everett got hold of a copy. He wasn’t supposed to play it on air, but he did whenever he could, creating such demand that EMI was forced to release it. ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ was later released on an album called A Night at the Opera, which at the time was the most expensive album ever made. After ‘Rhapsody’, Queen were rock royalty. The group recorded an average of one LP a year from 1973 to 1991. They began to play bigger and bigger venues, and in fact are credited with the invention of ‘stadium rock’. Freddie Mercury must take much of the credit for making Queen the band they were. He wrote many of their smash hits, including ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, ‘We Are the Champions’ and ‘Another One Bites the Dust’. But more importantly, Freddie was the focus of the band’s live show. Brian May and John Deacon were quite shy men and Roger Taylor was hidden behind his drums, so it fell to Freddie to act as the band’s showman. It was a role he relished and performed with gusto and panache. David Bowie described him as a ‘star who could hold the audience in the palm dills hand’. At Queen’s famous gig in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil in 1985, almost everyone in the crowd of 325,000 joined him to sing ‘Love of My Life’. In Mannheim, Germany, he conducted with his short mike stand, waving it like a royal sceptre as 80,000. Germans sang a lusty version of the British National Anthem.. Freddie was famous in the rock world for his showmanship and posing. Queen was one of the highlights of the biggest concert ever—the Live Aid show in 1985. After the show Bob Geldof described Queen as the biggest band on the planet. And he pointed out that the event had been the perfect stage for Freddie. Freddie also had a musical career independently of Queen. Perhaps the most famous example of this work was his collaboration with the Spanish opera singer Montserrat Caballe. That song became the world-famous ‘Barcelona’. The single was chosen as the official theme tune for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Working with the diva was one of the most fulfilling experiences of Freddie’s musical career. After their a1bum had been put together Freddie said simply ‘What else is there left for me to do?’ Freddie’s partying was legendary. It was routine for Queen to throw parties after their concerts, but the really extravagant bashes took place on Freddie’s birthday. It was quite standard for him to splash out?50,000 on entertainments. Freddie’s taste for excess extended to shopping. He once said, ‘I love to spend, spend, spend.’ He bought a 144-piece dinner service handpainted with miniature copies of Constable paintings. Each serving plate cost?20,000. He was passionate about fine art and amassed one of the best private collections in Britain. His Kensington home was another great and costly luxury. He bought it for cash —?500,000. It had eight bedrooms, four marble bathrooms, a jacuzzi and mistrels’ gallery. Refurnishment took years but when it was finally ready Freddie decided to move in for a weekend to see how it felt. He never moved out. And he brought with him his beloved cats, Oscar and Tiffany. The house would become a sanctuary for Freddie towards the end of his life, as he put his days of wi1d partying and high living behind him. Although Freddie is remembered as the camp and over-the-top frontman for Queen, there was another side to him. Inside the showman there was a troubled and lonely man. It’s no surprise that one of his greatest solo hits was a cover of ’The Great Pretender’.
¯ Research. Produce a wall display about the song and the artist(s). Work in small groups. Choose one of the English records. Share what you already know about the artist(s) and the song, and discuss where and how you can get more information. Find out what you can about the artist(s), their careers in music, style and image. Include photographs, biographies or any other information about the artist(s) and the words of the song. Try to identify exactly what has made them successful. Use headings.
¯ What does it take to be a successful pop star? Share your ideas, then read the text, and answer the questions. Vocabbox: demonstration records (demos):sample records that singers and groups make to impress record producers
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