good evening from los angeles, i'm tavis smiley. tonight a conversation with four-time grammy winner, annie lenox, but her new c.d. titled "nostalgia" which mimes the great american songbook. cuts include "summertime," "god bless the child," and "georgia on my mind." "roll stone" named lenox as one of the greatest singers of all time with erhythmyx and as a solo artist. sold over 83 million copies worldwide. she received an obe for her humanitarian work, as well. we're glad you joined us. a conversation with annie lenox coming up right now. ♪

and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. annie lenox has four grammy awards, an academy award, golden award, and order of the british empire, obe, in honor of her humanitarian work to her credit. as one half of eurythmics and solo artist she's sold 83 million records worldwide, a testament to her artistry.

"nostalg "nostalgia" is a good one. she turns her unique voice from "the great american songbook," with "god bless the child," "georgia on my mind." before our conversation, we'll look at annie singing "i put a spell on you." ♪ i ain't lying i ain't lying ♪ ♪ you know i can't stand it your running around ♪ ♪ you know better i can't stand it because you put me down ♪ ♪ oh standing ♪ ♪ please >> can i say i'm so glad but this project. >> thanks. thank you. >> i'm so glad, ame tnnie, that did this because your voice lends itself so nicely to the american songbook.

how did you know that your voice would match the music? >> well, i didn't, you know. you never really do. jazz was never my genre as you know. >> it is now. >> been around a little while. it is now. >> it is now. i was rehearsing with herbie hancock a couple of years ago, and we were doing a concert for unas in washington. for many years i've been a campaigner. i haven't really released so many albums. and there i was doing this concert and rehearsing with his band. we were extemporizing and having fun in the rehearsal studio. and i just realized -- i started to think, you know what, i have never recorded anything in the jazz genre. and that would be interesting. herbie and i were doing a version of "every time we say good-bye" which his recorded in the 1980s for the red, hot, and blue hiv/aids concert.

and i loved that experience. we were stepping into a different genre. and i'm getting -- getting long in the tooth now. you know, as we all are. >> you mean the other way? >> exactly. >> could be six feet under. >> yes, there you go. hey, i'm alive and kicking. >> there you go. >> and there's still time left. and i thought, you know, i've always made music for the love of it. but in some way or another i could just see as an experiment what will happen if. and i quietly sent some time just by myself listening the 1930s classic "american songs." they're songs i didn't grow up, not part of my culture. people in scotland where i come from, they listen to jazz, of course. but in my household we weren't listening to jazz.

i thought, that title, that's interesting. i covered the waterfront. let's check this out. i came to it as a newcomer. >> right. how much of your decision to do there went beyond whether or not your voice could match to being turned on by the lyrical content since you mentioned the -- >> the bar is high already. for me, i wanted to interpret the songs, explore them. i did it in a step-by-step fashion. there's always a magnetic quality in a song for a singer or interpreter that draws you in. it's a quality, a combination of the beautiful, special melody. something that haunts you and captures your interest. something about the chordal progression. something about the message the song is trying to express. if you get a fusion of all

those things and then sing it and play it with guitar or keyboard, you have a really classic song. to me, those were the elements in classic songs. >> i was about to ask and you answered. you're pressing it. i was about to ask what for you makes a good song. i'm fascinated by artists as to their opinion as to what makes a song. i think you answered it. >> i probably just did. at the end of the day there's a sort of alchemy that is all the ingredients. it's like the fingerprint. each individual person has a unique fingerprint. i always think that there's something so miraculous about that. and each special song has its own particular fingerprint. we can't quite truly break it down into separate parts and say it has to have this, this, this, and this. we never know. like when you hear a new song, you sort of stop -- you could be driving and go, oh, i have to turn that up. what is that? who's singing that?

that is a hit song. everybody's chasing it. >> yeah. if everybody knew what it was, all the songs would be hits. >> every one. they have a specialty value. >> i couldn't agree more. i want to go back and get something before i forget about it because it was fascinating when you raised it to me at least. that is this notion that by your own admission for years, you didn't put out a couple of records because you were busy doing your -- not just your work but your witness, as i would call it, your witness as an ambassador. talking about issues that matter in the world. how does one make a decision, or of it really not a decision, just happened that you stepped away from the music, stepped away from the work to engage your witness? >> i think it's a process for me. all of us, we all go through different stages in our lives. you know, when you're a child, you do childish things. you become an adolescent. then you become a young adult. you have to be far more responsible.

if you look back at my life, there are all these curves. the time i got to my early to mid 30s, i really was longing to have a kind of normal life, whatever that was. i'd been on the road doing all this wonderful, creative stuff with eurythmics things, but i'd lost a sense of what it was to have -- i don't don't like the word normal, but a life-life. i stepped away in that time. and then i also thought that i'm an artist and want to know -- can i actually do something by myself separately as a solo artist. and at that time, i was having children. i was kind of multitasking because i had two little children. you know, making a record like "diva." then the decision was should i tour with the record, you know, actually, no. i have my children. i don't want to leave them. and -- stow's just about an evolution process. in 2004, i was fortunate because -- it was because of dave stewart actually that this concert was held in cape town in south africa. to launch nelson mandela's 46 4

aids and hiv foundation. -- 4664, aids and hiv foundation. it was to become a turning point in my life. through 4664, i had an opportunity to witness the south african aids pandemic in the face. you know, we were taken, all the artists were taken to townships and hospitals and clinics and people's homes. we saw the pandemic that nobody was talking about. mandela was striving to advocate for, to say we have to get access for my people. they're dying like flies, and they were. talking about ebola now. and i'm going back because i've had experience of human pandemic. and in the face of aids, it is so difficult because that is a sexually transmitted disease. nobody wants to acknowledge it. very challenging. i saw how women and children were being so badly affected. and as a mother myself with my children, i said, that's such

injustice. and the women have no voice, and i just wanted to make my contribution as a woman. and i thought gender's a great leveler. we talk about race and different races and skin color and all of these things and bigotry and hatred and so many differentiations. and the beautiful thing, two things for me, i'm a musician, music, the great connector. doesn't matter about skin color, doesn't matter about culture, no. music will connect all of us. the other thing is gender. the feminine gender. we can connect through feminine gender and try to empower that way. >> i feel the power of your passion that you were brought into by this experience. when you had this experience, how does that impact and then influence your artistry? because once you get out and start engaging your witness, you eventually get back to the work of putting out more records. how does that experience influence and impact your

artistry? >> see, i've had a successful so-called career. i don't think of it in terms of career, but a life of music, you see. there's an aspect of me that wanted to be engaged and to -- to participate in making transformative change in whatever way i could. and the platform of music and being a spokesperson in that way was very helpful. you can get obfuscation. i went out and basically i had filmed pieces that i made with some wonderful documentary filmmakers. we would go to remote places, very remote places where you see two doctors to 100,000, 200,000 people. they can't get any access to health care whatsoever. there's no comparison whatsoever. what you try to do is to go and say, look, this is what's happening. tell the human interest story so people take it from the abstract into the sort of here it is. my god. it's really happening.

we have coming in great britain called comic relief. this is on an annual basis. everyone in the household if they want to watch the program, they get taken into these places where actually we get one human interest story and can relate with that. so music has helped give me the platform. and to give me -- use my spoken voice more than my singing voice in that way. there comes a point where you know what, before time runs out for me -- because i'm be 60 for -- i'll be 60 this year. it's than old. but still, i'm looking into the autumn years. >> that was nicely put. >> in our autumn years. 60 is the new 30. it could be the new 20. hey. >> you make 60 look good. that's all i can say. >> thank you very much. thank you very much. i think it's all about the spirit that you have within you. in health, it's terribly, terribly important, and i don't take anything for granted.

but then i started to think, well, maybe i've never done this, and it was enticing to me. the notion, wow, this is music that is so special, and i didn't want to cover the songs and do it in a conventional way. i wanted to interpret them and bring my own sort of version of them back into -- back here to make this album for people to know that it exists. >> i love the choices that you made for this project. some great choices. there are a couple that stood out to me, and i could not wait to get you in the seat to ask why you chose a couple tracks on here. and the first is "strange fruit." >> we've gone right -- darkest track of the whole album. >> i wanted to go right to it, man. and the sequence almost in the middle of the project. almost in the middle in terms of sequence. why -- it's a powerful, powerful song.

why -- why do "strange fruit"? >> "strange fruit" was a protest song that was written before the civil rights movement got on its feet, got established. because of what i've seen around the world, i know that this theme, this subject of violence, bigotry, hatred, violent acts os mankind against ourselves, this is a theme. a human theme that has gone on for time in memorial. it's expressed in all different ways, where it be races, domestic violence, whether it be warfare or a terrorist act or simply one person attacking another in a separate incident. this something that we as human beings have to deal with. it's just going on to 24/7. as an observer of the violence, even when i was a child, i always thought why is this happening? and i've seen the outrage that we behave in this way.

so a song like this, if i were to do a version of "strange fruit," i'd give the song honor and respect. and i try to bring it back out into the world again and get an opportunity to talk about the subject behind the songs, as well. >> yeah. when you hear billy holliday sing that, what do you hear? >> you know, it's -- hard to talk about, huh? there is a woman who suffered so much in so many ways from her circumstance, from the situation of many things, from being a woman, from being a woman of color, from addiction, from a kind of, you know, not being -- extremelyit ended badly. and you see this happening with artists, female artists frequently. you know, you ask like, why? why did this beautiful woman

self-destruct in the end? what were the things that caused her to disappear tragically at quite an early age. she was in her 40s, you know. i've looked at youtube clips and her face and wondered if -- what happened. it makes me sad, and i feel that i want to kind of be standing shoulder to shoulder with her. if she was here, we would have a lot in common. there would be a lot of things that we could talk about. >> like what? >> like female empowerment. women's rights. bigotry, racism. there's so many things we could talk about. we could talk about lipstick, too. we could talk about clothes. we could talk about the things that are still going on in this day and age that haven't changed one ioata, and the sort of pain that i feel.

i would like to see a world that could transform. wee so many resources. and when we dialogue, we have an opportunity to make good, positive things happen. but we're in a world of madness and sometimes despair. >> yeah. what -- i have a followup. i don't want to forget this. i was -- had the honor of going to see my friend audra mcdonald, now six-time tony winner on broadway this year. i thought i loved billie holiday and saw her play history stage. i'm wrestling, marinating on what i saw in her performance. just a powerful, powerful thing that audra did. be that as it may, when you hear a voice like hers or a voice you

interpreted on this project, what is it about the human voice that turns you on? does that make sense? >> yes, it totally makes sense. and it's hard to put into word because it is -- it's an electrifying experience. what you talk about being turned on to music, sometimes you get that physical response where you get goosebumps running up your arms. sometimes you get a feeling like tears suddenly arise. you hear a piece of music -- i've had this many times. tears come. i don't really know what the chemistry is in the music, but i can tell you one thing -- blues music contains beauty and pain. beauty and in that minor third. you know, from the distance between the c to the e to the e-flat. and in that shift between the major and the minor, something happens. and you are anguished, and you are swooning in a kind of beautiful pain. the darkness and the light. it's all combined there. >> that's beautifully put. that was a powerful answer.

i loved that. what is it about the world that most distresses you? and conversely, what is it about the world today that gives you most hope? >> i see huge disparity between the western world and the so-called developing countries. and i go to places where people are living as if they were were in medieval times. they don't get access to things like clean, running water out of the taps. sanitation, toilets, hand washing facilities. hand washing very important thing. we must be able to wash our hands. that is one of the simplest things people can do to prevent spreading disease, for example. we kind of know that. electricity, services in a safe home. the education of young girls going out -- growing up, getting access to, you know, primary education, secondary education, maybe getting a college degree.

the future opportunities. all these things that we think, oh, it's done. they're not done. they're not done at all. there's so much to do. i have met wonderful organizations, nongovernmental organizations, ngos. they're my champions. i absolutely honor the young men and women often that go off, and they do things very often to their own danger, you know, or risk, and they try to set up responses in places where there's nothing. they make all the difference. yet, i see governments, and all i see warfare and neglect and corruption. and you know, desperate situations with crime. it's overwhelming. but you know, one must have hope i guess. >> you sing on this project, nostalgia, "god bless the child." >> well, it's a powerful song of the reference is biblical. i'm not religious myself, but that's a whole other subject that we can discuss.

you know -- >> top line why you're not. >> why i'm not religious? >> top line why you're not. i make a religious between religious and spiritual. you are spiritual. >> we're all spiritual people whether we acknowledge that or not. we are all essentially within us. we have the spirit of life. i mean, it's so difficult to kind of nail that. but some people would say god, i don't have an issue with the word "god." just that -- >> just christians -- >> no. i don't have an issue with christians. i don't. what i have an issue with is that people are so divisive and so polarized. how could you be christian and then have another -- say christian. i'm going to get myself in such trouble. >> i'll go with you. you won't walk alone. >> how can you follow one specific religion and say, you know, this religion is supposed to be about love, peace, respect, honor of your brother and sister. and yet still find that you hate

people of color? i've never understood that. for example -- that's one small example. in the written world, we have catholics and protestants. they still fight each other. you know, anywhere you go in religion, you'll find that this god is right, everybody else is wrong. and that is the thing that i find so alienating. i think that you -- never mine religion. are you kind? do you love, or do you hate? that's the point. when i heard about this crazy church where the woman is coming with her family and saying god hates fags, it's an anomaly to me. i don't get. i'm saying this on -- is this national television. >> it is indeed. international. >> i'm in trouble. >> no, i asked -- i said you won't walk alone. i was making a joke, but there's truth in it as is the case with many jokes. one person told me once, "i love god, just save me from the christians." i understand the point that you

made. so many of white house profess one thing -- many of us who profess one thing -- how do i put this? you can profess something and not live it. but you can't believe something and not live it. that's the distinction sometimes. people call -- i am a christian, but that's sometimes when we get caught between the professing and believing. and we get tricked sometimes. >> the labels are interesting, aren't they? they can become very reductive. i don't want to make a distinction between you as a fellow human being -- i don't think you're muslim, buddhist, christian, it doesn't make any difference. i think to respect that person and be kienld. it -- be kind. it's the divisiveness that upsets me. that's what i see a lot in religion. >> i pushed you a different direction. >> you did! >> i wanted you to top line. that was a little more than top line, but i appreciate. i pulled you into. i was asking why you chose "god bless the child."

yeah. >> when i was listening to these song and transcribing them on to my keyboard and trying to find my access to them, i was living in cape town at that time. just for a short period. every day i passed the townships in cape town. you know, actually massive, massive townships of a million people just from -- if you land at the airport, you drive into cape town, there are the townships on either side. and you seeparitydisparity. it is, norms. we don't have apartheid -- it is enormous. we don't have apartheid, but we have the same old violence, same old struggle for survival. still people don't get out of the rut of poverty. >> yeah. >> that serial in my mind nature song, "god bless the child," she's talking about that disparity, billie holiday. >> there's so much to talk about.

i'm going beg you to stay in that seat. will you they? >> yeah. >> we're going to do this for a second night. the project is "nostalgia." a wonderful project covering -- i shouldn't say covering, reinterpreting classics in "the american songbook." so much more to talk about, but i'm out of time. this is what happened when you talk to such a brilliant artist like yourself. we'll continue tomorrow with annie lenox. until then, thanks for watching. and as always, keep the faith. ♪ for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley at pbs.org. hi, i'm tavis smiley. join me next time for the second night of my conversation with singer and activist annie lenox. that's next time. we'll see you then.

and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. daniel mansergh:

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