He asked me afterwards ‘What do you do?’ I said ‘I’m a theatre nurse a junior sister

He asked me afterwards, ‘What do you do?’ I said, ‘I’m a theatre nurse, a junior sister.’ And he said, ‘You’re a fool – you need to go to study at the Guildhall, and you need to do it now.’ He was the catalyst: it was the inspiration I needed. “I wanted to be a singer from the word go, but my father said that I’d better have something to fall back on if necessary, and it was golden advice.”She began singing solos with the hospital choir, then with the best amateur choir in Wales, at one of whose concerts Bryn Terfel was a fellow-soloist. When David McVicar’s highly coloured production of Die Zauberfl?is revived at Covent Garden tonight, a Welsh singer more famous abroad than in Britain will finally make her mark: Rebecca Evans’s Royal Opera roles may have included Zerlina, Nanetta and Johanna (in Sweeney Todd), but Pamina in this production represents her big coming-out.
“This production is very much geared around the role,” she says. Every so often something clicks, and you can’t predict what it’s going to be I can’t make it happen, but occasionally it does. And other stuff will have a smaller audience, but that’s OK because as long as its got longevity, you can survive – and so can the artist.”Eight classic Luaka Bop albums have just been reissued by V2. We heard an early demo on Nelly Furtado and it was quite different from her album – quite raw and sung in Portuguese and English. We really liked it, but didn’t realise there was a bidding war for her.

In a situation like that, you congratulate yourself for having the same tastes as a million other people and take sustenance in the fact that your taste isn’t completely on the fringe.”I always feel the same way about everything, whether it’s my own stuff, Talking Heads or Luaka Bop. “We do have to be realistic and think what kind of artist we can connect with on the ground level,” he says. “Hopefully we’ll be able to nurture their talent and give them a chance for their careers to blow up But you never know. “All the major record labels rejected it, and I thought my friend was joking when she rang me to say that Luaka Bop was interested. When I walked into the office, David came running up and said that it was an honour to meet such a great songwriter. Then, the next thing I knew, he asked his assistant if there was any interesting post today and started opening it up in front of me.

So, I’d gone from feeling this thrill of adulation to wondering what I should do next? When he eventually looked up, he asked if I was going to be using any pedal steel guitar on the album? I came away not really knowing if I had a record label or not.” His debut album, The Mysterious Tale of How I Shouted Wrong-Eyed Jesus!, became one of the labels biggest critical successes.Byrne says that its approach to signing artists is a mixture of liking the music and seeing whether it’s financially feasible to sign a particular act. “I think our approach of pushing the envelope inspired many people, and I know that Mutantes had already played an important role on the alternative scene, and that guys such as Beck, Nirvana, L7, The Bangles, Sean Lennon and many others were drinking from our waters.” The compilation gave many people the chance to hear Os Mutantes for the first time, and gave Dias the impetus to plan a series of reunion concerts in Brazil.White, on the other hand, was an example of Byrne’s wish to nurture new talent, even when it wasn’t recognised elsewhere. “I’d recorded this demo with a dodgy four-track, and it was possibly the worst tape ever,” says White. It has the audacity of presenting very creative music, made by honest musicians, and I think it is this that marks the difference from other companies. It has a special sensibility when receiving new material, and is respectful of your music and creation. My relationship with Luaka Bop is full of anecdotes and magic, and I love David very much.”S?io Dias, of Os Mutantes, believes that their best-of compilation was the end result of renewed interest in the band. “The Luaka deal was a consequence of our music and ideas having already reached out to people,” he says.

I love to cook, so we decided to have them over to the house. We invited a friend who spoke English and had the most wonderful time.”"Although Luaka Bop isn’t a very big recording company, it’s a daring one. “David picked up one of these and I guess he was really impressed with it because, a month later, he sent Yale to check us out. It was flattering to be picked up by David.”Luaka Bop’s most celebrated artist, Baca, whose career spiralled after her self-titled album was released by the label. “I met David through the children of some friends who loaned me Rei Momo, on which he sang with Celia Cruz,” she says.