The Opera Babes
As Beckham and Owen knock them in, the Opera Babes provide the perfect soundtrack. For those of you who have been waking up at silly hours to watch the latest match you can't have escaped "One Fine Day" as the Official ITV World Cup Theme. It's just one of 15 classical gems which fill the Number One Selling Opera Babes album "Beyond Imagination".
We caught up with Rebecca Knight, daughter of renowned opera singer Gillian Knight, to discuss how they started off in humble beginnings busking in Covent Garden before being whisked away for the FA Cup Final and then on to record the "Beyond Imagination" album. As opera continues to crossover to the mainstream the Babes have managed to record an album that pleases the Opera Elite as well as appealing to the ordinary man in the street who recognized the Hovis, Old Spice and British Airways adverts.
Q: You're behind "One Fine Day" - the official ITV
World Cup Theme. Again bringing the world of Football and Opera together
for what at first glance looks two very different sides of culture. Why
do you think they sit beside each other so well?
A: Pavarotti started I suppose with "Nessum Dorma". I
think its probably because people get so worked up about football and you
do the same way with Opera as well really. To actually perform it I think
you need to be on a certain type of charge and you have this weird energy
going on in your body...you just need a real passion with both things have.
Q: You've grown up with a classical background, but
do you think it was "Nessum Dorma" that crossed classical music over to
the mainstream from that elite circle?
A: That really changed everything didn't it. I think
then Opera became very much in the public domain and not just for an elite
group of people...which is kind of what were hoping to continue along that
sort of line. Were making it a bit more accessible so people that perhaps
wouldn't normally listen to opera might do so if they thought that normal
people were listening to it.
Q: Going back to you childhood. You had a famous mother
in the Opera Circles, did you ever want to rebel against the whole idea
of what your parents had planned for you?
A: I totally did. I couldn't stand opera when I was a
kid...there was no way on earth I was going near it!!! I just used to play
anything loud and offensive just to annoy my parents. Even the piano...when
I used to play these classical pieces I would just bash them out and make
a horrible noise.
The reason I did it was I wanted to be very much an individual
and eventually I thought I really really do like opera and realized I was
cutting my nose of to spite my face. I'd done a lot of weird things like
sailing around the world for a year, I'd been a gardener and I'd written
for Children's TV and I think I liked the idea of a big challenge. It was
almost like going into something that I thought was unachievable, especially
having a mother that had done so well as it I thought I was never going
to do as well as her.
Q: When you first hooked up with Karen to form the
Opera Babes you were actually busking in Covent Gardens. How did all that
come about?
A: I met her in a touring opera company, we hit off straight
away and it was her idea that we did a bit of busking. And it was from
that that we got offered the FA Cup Final and from that we got offered
the record deal and its just spiralled away out of control.
There's a classical section in Covent Garden where there are string quartets and singers. I think one of her friends had done it and she said to Karen I think you should give it a go. It was a lot of no-ing and yes-ing because its quite a weird thing to do to stand in a street and make yourself sing opera. First of all people actually thought we were miming and then we went up them and screamed in their ear so they realized it was us actually singing.
When was the last time a homeless person came up to you and gave you money. It just doesn't happen does it!!!
Q: You did actually write a lot of the lyrics for the
Number One Album "Beyond Imagination". People have heard these songs in
different contexts. Was it a worry about how people would react to them?
A: We did a little bit, but at the end of the day you've
got to trust your own judgement. We set out to make an album of beautiful
music and we tried our hardest to achieve it. And having written stuff
before it was nice to have that creative output on the album and it was
weird because when we first started people were saying lyrics don't matter,
its all about meaningless vowel sounds.
The thing is, is it isn't your stereotypical crossover
album. There's a lot of straight stuff on there even though it may have
a little twist...a lot of crossover acts usually have a pop beat over the
top whereas I think there has been a lot more thought on this album.
Q: We've recently seen Russell Watson collaborate with
Faye Tozer from Steps. Is there anyone you'd like to collaborate with either
from the classical world or maybe a more mainstream circle?
A: I suppose it would be nice to get Domingo or in the
pop world someone like Sting is an obvious one. But were not clamouring
to collaborate with anyone at the moment because were still finding our
feet as a duo really.
Some people would probably go further than we would, but
that's because we've had a different background. We've trained as Opera
singers and we've been working in theatres for years so that's where our
heart is really. I guess we just wouldn't want to go too far in the other
direction...it just wouldn't interest us.
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