Christine Anu will pay tribute to her role model in her new show, writes FRANCES RAND.
Respect, (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman, Chain of Fools, Rock Steady, Today I Sing The Blues and others have all been a backdrop for Anu over the years. “If I was to put a soundtrack to my life, it would definitely be full of Aretha songs,” she says.
“In my culture you are raised to respect your elders. Respect is a big calling card and I’ve raised my kids to take that on.” She also feels like singing Franklin is going back to her musical roots.
“Soul music is where I started out.” Recording the songs – Anu is releasing an album to coincide with the tour – was tough. “In the back of my mind I was thinking Aretha’s going to think I’ve annihilated these songs. I wanted it to be perfect and I couldn’t get the Aretha version out of my head.”
However, Anu realised what she was really doing was paying tribute to Franklin.
“If I can take a leaf out of her book, I’d be happy. You can’t fault Aretha. She’s 70 and she’s still around. She set the tone for how pop music would be.”
If you want to see Anu in Milton on August 25, you better be quick. She has already sold out the 8pm concert. Tickets for a 3pm show are available at $40 from Country Leather, Milton 4455 3056 and Malibu Music, Ulladulla 4455 5693.
