Gordon Lightfoot Book, Music and More!

A metamorphosis is under way. A face, seemingly made of candle wax, takes shape beneath a flickering flame. It is Annie Lennox, provocative singer of Eurythmics, the British pop duo. Then, the video for Eurythmics’ latest single, “Missionary Man,” turns more sinister, with a scene in which a dark figure — Dave Stewart, the duo’s other half—is seen cooking potions in a laboratory. The video cuts back to Lennox’s face, now helplessly harnessed to a set of mechanical devices— communicating a strong message of struggle against others’ attempts at control. For Lennox and Stewart, veterans of contractual disputes with record and management companies, that message has special resonance. The pair ha...

When I first met her, she spoke in a whisper, protecting the gold-plated vocal cords that had made Eurythmics one of the top musical acts on the planet. Annie Lennox was staying in a quiet residential neighborhood near West Hollywood, while she and Eurythmic Dave Stewart rehearsed for the band’s Revenge tour. It was the summer of ’86 and Lennox looked every bit the striking pop icon, one whose theatrical, gender-bending and diva-vamping appearances had transformed the pop landscape. Dressed in a pink satin blouse and a brightly colored plaid suit, a variation on her native Scottish tartan, she spoke at length about music, image and Eurythmics’ battle for artistic control. Fast forward more t...

Even in the gender-bending heyday of Eurythmics, when videos ruled the music world, Lennox’s voice rose above imagery to become one of the era’s most distinctive features. Here was a formidable singer, one who caused shivers in listeners. It was entirely fitting that when she embarked on a solo career in 1992, her debut album was titled simply Diva. Now the multiple Grammy winner has set her divine voice to classics from the American Songbook. But the collection, she insists, is not a covers album. “These are interpretations of these songs,” says Lennox, who turns 60 this Christmas Day. “I went deeper because, for me, the origin of these songs is the blues. Blues comes from something both be...