LAUREN
FIELD ON HER WAY TO WORLD FAME AND STARDOM
BY MAXIMILLIEN de LAFAYETTE, Syndicated Columnist.
Photo: Lauren and Charles - Rock On, late 80's.
In my very long and dusty years of journalism, interviewing celebrities and pioneers and writing about stars, music and showbiz, very few artists and headliners made an unforgettable impression on me and forced me to question my absurd intellectualism; Marlene Dietrich for her strong personality, Golda Meir for her pragmatic wisdom and patriotic determination, Simone Signoret for her philosophical outlook at life, Jacques Brel for his sweetness and understanding of the needs of poor children, Melina Mercouri for her love for life and exemplary generosity, Alison England for her joie de vivre and happy happy happy approach to life and music...and today, I add one more: LAUREN FIELD for the great talent she blended with human warmth, artistic integrity, unsurpassed truthfulness and touching beauty in answering questions, usually "big shots and newsmakers" avoid or categorically refuse to answer, and in case, they do , their replies would mirror and reflect hypocrisy and choking vanity. Lauren Field is humble, truthful, warm and remarkably talented. She is our guest this month. And what a guest and what an artist she is! First class. La crème de la crème. Many of you never heard of Lauren Field. But those who worked with Lauren...those who knew Lauren on and off stage will never forget Lauren Field. Her talent shines. But talents alone don't usually put a tiger in my tank or shrink me in an Aladdin lamp. In addition to talent, artists must pour over the landscape of their crafts, drops of drama, life, bursting feeling, tears, joyful sorrow, tragi-comedia, human warmth, so their art would transcend the logic and frontiers of human banality, time, space and beyond. No country in the world would survive if its art dies. And no human dignity, beauty, tenderness and madness of the seasons we know, civilization and world peace will last if, the music dies, if stages and theaters will close down and if artists stop to paint, and composers and singers dissipate in painful memories and dark alleys...Talent must be nourished with humility, tenderness, honest and warm communication with fans, friends and others. Talent without goodness, loveable personality and "un je ne sais quoi" is a temporary mirage parading before the bridge of our chimerical fantasy. Lauren Field's talent and answers ascertain and strengthen my belief in those ideas and visions. She is a super woman. But who in heavens is this Lauren Field? Here she is, as she really IS and as I come to know her. She told me a great deal about her life, her music, the miserable and filthy venues she worked at, the bills and the bills she had to pay, the worries, the tears, and yes, of course, she told me about her pets, children, the world she loves, the people she likes, her favorite countries, the kind of men who are attracted to her, and too many splendors, ups and downs in her career...Listen to Lauren talking about the world and people she knew, the biter-sweet experiences she had, and the songs she composes and sings. You will be mesmerized by her.
Lauren began her career treading the boards as an actress. She trained at one of the world’s most prestigious Drama Academies – The Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art and went on to perform in musical revues and musicals in London’s West End. Lauren told me: “I loved acting, but singing was the love of my life. It was what inspired me, what drove me. I gradually became more and more involved in singing work. I grabbed the MD of a show I was doing at “The Duke of York’s Theatre” in St Martin’s Lane and said, come and do some gigs with me. So we started playing in Clubs and hotels and bars. We’d do a really camp set, a mixture of show tunes, old disco numbers and big ballads. We played a weekly gig in Covent Garden every Friday night. We were a real hit there and it would get crowded with students (a complete fire hazard – once in there was no way out till the end of the night) and one night my future partner, record producer Charles Foskett walked in - and you could say that our eyes met across a crowded room, but actually he had a glass of red wine spilt down his white suit and couldn’t wait to get out! But he gave me his card and said call me, I’ve got some work for you.”
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