Parkinson: Your hands are cold!
Charlotte: Yeah, I've got bad circulation.
P: Have you?
C: Yeah
P: Tell me about uhm...when you.....you're only sixteen now, you've got a best of album out
C: I know, I know
P: When did you first start...when did you first go on stage and start belting it?
C: It was when I was three
P: Three?!
C: and I went to a holiday camp with all my family and I used to sing Ghostbusters?, remember the theme of Ghostbusters and uhmm...
P: So how does it go?
C: Oh, don't make me sing that...I can't!
A: Who d’you wanna call.
C: Yeah, that was the one. And so I just used to get up on stage and just scream it and I used to dance and everything, but nobody could get me off stage. So they literally had to physically take me off stage. But I really started to be serious about it when I was about eight and I did uhmm...I used to do all the kind of church socials for, you know, the local church and everything, because all my family is catholic. And uhmm, my auntie used to make me all these gorgeous little costumes and I used to think I was chocolate, and they were disgusting when I look back. You know, proper crimped hair with bunches, oh really bad! Uhmm. But I used to think it was brilliant and I used to do the disco version of Tomorrow from Annie. I did a dance routine and it is just so cringe worthy now.....
P: There is a video in existence of that isn't there?
C: Yeah, and nobody is ever gonna get their hands on that!!!
P: Well I was going to ask you about that.
C+P: *laugh*
C: But anyway...
P: And of course there is music in your family of course, I mean (a) to start with, where you were born, but then your mum is a guitarist, your auntie is a singer, and they have been so responsible for I suppose helping you develop as a performer.
C: Definitely! Like it...in our family parties we don't have DJs. Like, my cousin Paul is a brilliant Elvis impersonator, he comes through the windows and everything, it is really exciting. And my auntie is a fantastic cabaret singer. My grandfather is just the most unbelievable character. He sounds like Louis Armstrong when he sings because he just smokes so much all of his life that his voice is just *Charlotte make a grunting noise*, it is just really raspy. So yeah, all my family sing and dance and, yeah it's cool.
P: So you just continued in that tradition basically but with a bit more success.
P: Uhmm, you told me about your granddad smoking there, there’s been a thing in the papers about you smoking recently?
C: Yeah, I know.
P: Are you smoking?
C: No, no, I got a lot of hassle for it because I mean... I don't smoke! As soon as my mother found out she went mad. My whole family just went "what are you doing, you are a singer...." and all this, and uhhm. So I stopped straight away because I knew my life was in danger....from my family that is...
*Everybody laughs*
C: And so uhmm, and so, I mean I was just trying, that's what sixteen years old do. I mean, at least I'm not doing the whole showbiz star thing and doing all that kind of stuff.
P: I mean that's the point. It's difficult isn’t it – difficult enough being sixteen.
C: Yeah
P: Never mind being sixteen and living in a goldfish bowl.
C: Exactly. I mean, it's hard. It’s confusing being a teenager anyway. I’m sure everyone’s been through it who is watching and everything.
P: We didn’t actually!
*Laughs*
P: We weren’t invented when there were teenagers. 
A: We were not teenagers.
C: Really?
A: We don’t exist. We were just tiny replicas of the elders.
*Laughs*
A: All the same clothes. There was no difference at all. The phrase didn't exist.
C: Really?
P: We could bore the backside off you, the rear of the year off you!
*Charlotte laughs out loud*
P: But we won’t. But no, let's get down to brass tacks on this one because you have had some negative publicity recently about your choice of... Well, first of all, the stories that you sacked your mum....
C: Yeah, I mean it is just...
P: Is that true?
C: No! My mum was never my manager. She is still involved in my career but just on a kind of a lesser level just because that's what my whole family decided that I was growing in independence and they wanted to give me a bit more freedom. And she's been a brilliant, brilliant mother and she was fantastic when she was really involved in my career.
P: Well, I now watched your mum today when you were rehearsing, and I mean the relationship between the two of you seems absolutely wonderful.
C: Yeah, because she's more like my sister, cause she's so young and she's so gorgeous and she wears all my clothes!
P: Does she?
C: Yeah
A: How old is she thirty?
C: She's like thirty... oh I can't really tell it, she'll go mad.
A: Poor old thing.
*Everybody laughs*.
P: And then, so alright, So there's no truth in that, ok, so what about this stuff with this boyfriend of yours.
C: Oh no he's not...I mean...the press couldn't print 'Charlotte is going out with a nice boy'. I mean he's really, really lovely and we get on really well and it's just not true. It's ridiculous.
P: What's not true?
C: You know, just all the stories that he is a bad boy and he does this and he does that and it's just not right, it's not true.
P: Well he did try to sell the story about being with you.
C: Well apparently so, but I mean...I don't know...the press can be kind of manipulative because they come to your door, knock on your door tell you a story, tell somebody else a story, tell your friends when they are also trying to get a story off, a different story, so you never quite know.
P: But Charlotte, I mean they actually, they had a detailed account of a particular room in a hotel, of inviting the press along, of offering to sell your story for a hundred thousand pounds. And more than that of saying apparently at one point that you know, people buying records would be shocked by what I have to say. 
C: Well, that’s just, I...
P: You don't believe he did that.
C: No, personally I don't.
P: You don't?
C: Because I know him...I mean nobody else, nobody else knows him. And, I know him well and I just think...you know, the press can say things to make you react and maybe if I went?? over that... I mean, I was in LA and it was really distressful for me at the time. I was just freaking out, 'oh my God, what is this?'. But I really don't think he did that...I mean, I know all of his family and they all seem like really nice people and I just can't imagine it.
P: I don’t think the press would make that up would they?. They would be on very dangerous ground if they did?
C: They are on very dangerous ground but they a lot of the time they go on very dangerous ground because it's very hard to sue them, because they are very powerful.
P: Well that’s undeniably true, but having read the reports, I mean I would have thought there was something in it. Anyway, you don't believe it.
C: No I don't.
P: You've asked your boyfriend?
C: I have asked him...
P: And what did he say?
C: ... and he's just like, 'I wouldn't do that to you and blah, blah, blah'. I mean maybe I'm just young and being naive and being in love and all that kind of good stuff...uhmm but I don't believe it, I don't believe it, but maybe it will come back to me and bite me in my bum. 
P: What does your mum think of it?
C: Uhmm, my mum, my mum is just...she's worried for me, she's really protective and...
P: Does she approve of it?
C: Uhh, well no, not really... *public laughs*. I mean there's so many mothers and parents that don't agree with their daughters boyfriend, and it's just, it's just hard that I always..... and I accept it because there are fantastic parts of fame and there are downsides of fame, so I do accept it...but it's hard because...mother and daughter have this thing all the time 'you've got to stop smoking, my sixteen year old daughter, you can't go out with that boy, my sixteen year old daughter', but the press just kind of blow up my situation, so make it much more than it is when it just not really anything bar that I've got a boyfriend.
P: Yes. Of course I mean so what it wouldn't matter, except you are who you are, and of course that changes everybody’s perspective of the entire thing.
P: Uhmm, you said you are in love with him. Are you in love with him?
C: Uhmm, I don't know, I'm only little.
*everybody laughs*
C: I think so, I think so but it's, it's the strongest I have ever felt but then I have only had sixteen years of experience.
P: Yeah, yeah, I think you will get over it.
*public laughs*
P: I mean that sounds an awful, patronising, terribly patronising thing to say!
C: I know he's going to be watching, going ‘err um’.
P: . . . it really is.
C: No that's okay, you are older than me, you’re allowed to be.
*public laughs*
P: Alright, so you're happy, that’s it then. Your mum’s not happy, but you are.
C: Yeah but I mean, it has not affected me and my mums relationship because she just wants to be my mum.
P: I should think it must worry your management too, I would imagine?
C: No you see, because the management and Sony go on the side of 'you do whatever you want to do with your personal life, whatever happens in the papers....you know, if it affects your career we'll try and do as much damage control as we possibly can but you've got to live your life', and I'm really happy with that because I always said that when I became famous whatever the press said I would live my life the way I wanted to live my life and not let them kind of dictate how I was gonna live my life and I had to keep – you know -my nose clean the whole way through, I wasn't gonna be like that and even if it means my career forfeiting I still wanna, I still wanna live my life as a person not as just a singer. But it means the world to me. I love singing, it's my life, but there's so many things I want to do. I want to travel, I want to meet loads of people and things like that. So I dont, I don't want being famous to kind of dictate the way I live.
P: No I mean, yeah I understand that, but I mean there’s two kinds of publicity. There’s the kind of normal publicity you get just for being famous and for being young and beautiful like you are, and that sort of thing . . .
C: Thank you.
P: . . . and then there’s the other negative stuff that comes around, which you know, involves drugs and that sort of thing. Now that’s the other allegation about your boyfriend isn’t it, that he’s somehow peripherally perhaps on the drugs scene?
C: No I mean, it's just because, I mean he lives in an area where – I mean -it's not a really bad area, but it's not the best area in Cardiff, and so there are kind of drugs about, but I mean he's not involved in any of them, I mean he lives in a really nice part and like I said the press they couldn't say 'Charlotte is going out with a nice boy, he's not from the best of areas in Cardiff', but I mean it's not like a really bad area, but they couldn't just say that, they had to fabricate things and make a sensation out of it. 
P: What's your attitude towards drugs?
C: Uhmm, well, my family have just always just been like hammering it into me because I'm in the entertainment business it's so much more freely available, I've just go not curiosity at all.
P: You haven't?
C: No, no curiosity at all. And my dad is always going on about it to me, and my grandfather has as well.
P: The other thing too of course that would worry people while you are sixteen is that in fact, you're a rich girl, you've got a lot of money, I think 15 million quid?? is the figure I heard.
C: Oh no, that's just paper money.
P: That’s paper money, oh alright!
*they laugh*
P: It's a lot of money anyway, if it's 15 million quid? or not, but it's a lot of money. And again you don't come into this until you are 21?
C: No.
P: The bulk of it. So I suppose there is that worry as well that there will be bounty hunters around. 
C: Yeah, but I mean it's all in a trust fund. Even when I reach 21 I still wanna keep it in a trust fund so it means...say if I had a boyfriend and I decide that I want to give him a million quid?, the trust won't let me because I have to justify why I want to and how it's going to be beneficial for me so there is always somebody else overlooking my finances so I don't screw it up.
P: Let's just ask one further question...
C: ...which I would.
P: I suppose five years you would have to wait and then what...?
C: Just lots of clothes, lots of makeup, lots of shoes!
P: One more question and then we'll leave this particular subject, but I know you wanted to clear the air. One of the stories about this relationship with this boy, is that you bought him this car.
C: *laughs*
P: You bought him a 40,000 pound BMW, and then you paid 2000 pound for him to have customised license plates.
C: Of course!
P: Is that...is that a lie?
C: Of course it is. I mean, I haven't got my money until I am 21. My mum doesn't approve of this boy. And so she's going to let me buy him a 40 grand car? I don't think so! It's his father’s car, it's been sitting outside his father’s house for the past eight years, so no, that was a lie as well.
P: Okay. Now let's talk about the positive side.
C: OK.
P: Because one of the extraordinary things about you is I mean, this growing up and all this trappings of fame and working like you do, what has impressed me when I read about you is in fact you've got 7 A's at GCSE?
C: Yeah.
P: Well you don't go to school, do you as such?
C: Well, I kind of...I half did private tutoring and I half went to school. My education has always been really important to me because I've got a thirst for learning. I love learning about ancient history, philosophy and all kinds of things like that. And uhmm, and everybody says 'did you work just because the press were going to print your results'. I wanted to do this for myself, because if this singing lark doesn't last forever I want something to fall back on. And I just like being able to say...I'm kind of a clever girl, you know I've got...and I worked hard, I worked really hard for them.
P: What about university, I mean, you obviously said you like learning, you like taking examinations, you’ve obviously got a gift for passing them, would you go to university one day?
C: Uhmm, I really do want to go to university. I'm not sure whether I want to go to in America or here because I love Britain, I like America, but I just love Britain because it's just home and I don't know if I could move from here. But I really am considering going to university and either studying clinical psychology or philosophy. 
P: Do you find...you say you love it better here, but do you find that in America you have more privacy, that you are treated differently by the media there say than here.
C: Oh definitely!
P: Because they are not concerned about all we have been talking about.
C: Yeah the American press they are more...they just print about news, not really about gossip, I mean you only have like the National Enquirer and things like that. So there is more privacy in the kind of media ...place, but then also because there are like 250 million people, not many people recognise you. Whereas when I am in Cardiff, and it's only like 250 thousand people in Cardiff, everybody recognises me and things like that, but in America I really don't get recognised so I have quite a lot of privacy there. 
P: And you've sung for, what was it, two Presidents? You sang for Clinton.
C: Yeah
P: What was he like? Did you enjoy it?
C: He was really cool. He was really nice, really talkative, really warm and just easy to get along with. Because sometimes when you meet really, really important people you're just like...you just freeze up. What am I supposed to say to the Pope? 
*audience laugh*
C: You have a little talk with your mum, so what should we you say? 'Nice day, isn’t it'!? You just don't know what to these people. Because you just think they've got no interest in me whatsoever! You know, they are looking after what Russia is doing or Afghanistan or whatever and they just don't want to meet me. So it's kind of weird trying to make conversation with him. But he was really easy to get along with and... I mean President Bush was nice but he wasn't as comfortable as President Clinton. So President Clinton was my favourite.
P: And I understand you had a few words of advice for Mr. Blair?
C: Yeah
P: ...the Prime Minister. Didn't you point out about your tax to him?
C: Yeah. I mean, I'm sixteen. I haven't got any right to vote, and I have to pay 40% tax. And I know loads of people in the audience probably will go 'well so you should'. But I mean, I don't even have the right to vote. So I just said to him 'I think it's really, really wrong that people under 18 who don't have the right to vote, who don't have to do a lot of things have to pay tax'. And he just kind of went 'haha'.
*big laugh from the audience*
P: Politicians are very well at going haha . . .
P: What did the Pope say to you eventually when you met.
C: Well, I kissed his ring and all my hair got in my way, of course! And then he just went 'La Cantante'. And I just stood there like 'what???, sorry???'. And apparently he just meant 'the singer', in Italian. So it was an unbelievable experience though because I mean, he was so ill, he's just such a presence. Whether it’s psychological or whether it's just because he's the Pope and I have been brought up a Catholic and it was just like...'oh my God'. I mean, he's just so serene and holy.
A: You're very modest. I think most people would say who's that bloke with Charlotte Church?
*Charlotte and audience laugh*
C: I doubt it. But that was a brilliant experience too. 
P: And what about the future. What about this voice of yours, it's changing isn't it. You've going towards more of a mezzo-soprano now. 
C: Well I mean, I have done the classical music for four years now and I mean...I am a music lover, I love every style of music. I like everything. But what I would love to do is, I love kind of...I love hip-hop and R&B and stuff like that, but the music that I want to move into is kind of do Soul and Blues and mix it with a bit of world music so that I am a cross between of India Erie, Jill Scott, Eva Cassidy and Sting.
P: Oh, it's easy.
*audience laugh*
C: Oh, I know, it's a massive ambition but I really want to do it because I mean...amazing singers like Nina Simone and people like that...nobody sings like that anymore. Nobody does songs like that anymore and I think music is all kind of starting to sound the same. It has got the same beats and the same lyrics and I want to try something really different. It's a really big ambition but I want to try.
P: Well at sixteen it's all there before you isn’t it. You are lucky. Actually I think you are rather smashing, I think your mum has done a good job with you.
Don’t you Michael?
C: Thank you.
A: Not half!
P: Not half.
*audience laugh*
P: Okay, well all the best to you with your record and your career. Charlotte Church.
C: Thank you.
*audience applauds*

(c) 2002 CharlotteChurch.net

Transcribed  by DutchMark & UKMark