For nearly half a century, the band Renaissance has been creating some of the most beautiful, distinctive music in the progressive rock world. And for almost all of that time, the thrilling vocals of Annie Haslam have been at the heart of the sound.

Renaissance was founded in 1969, in England, by former Yardbirds Keith Relf and Jim McCarty, who left soon after. Innumerable lineup changes continued throughout the years, but the essence of the group remained the same — a sumptuous blend of classical, folk, rock and jazz elements — over which soared Haslam’s exquisite, five-octave voice.

The group offered compositions and performances that were complex and sophisticated, yet accessible and profoundly emotionally moving. Haslam’s heroic lead singing, bolstered by stirring harmonies and extraordinary instrumentation, gave Renaissance a transcendent aural magic.

Haslam originally joined the band in 1971, as a backing vocalist. By 1972, the band’s personnel had coalesced into what is considered “the classic lineup” — Haslam on lead vocals, keyboardist John Tout, bassist/vocalist Jon Camp, drummer Terry Sullivan and guitarist Michael Dunford. Dunford’s magnificent melodies and the captivating lyrics of Cornish poet Betty Thatcher-Newsinger gave Haslam spectacular musical moments.

Unforgettable Renaissance albums include “Prologue,” “Ashes Are Burning,” “Turn of the Cards,” “Scheherazade and Other Stories,” “Novella,” “A Song for All Seasons” and “Azure d’Or.” Such songs as “Carpet of the Sun” and “Mother Russia” enthralled listeners. The group enjoyed a Top 10 U.K. hit with the 1978 single “Northern Lights.”

Haslam has also released several brilliant solo albums over the years, including 1977’s “Annie in Wonderland,” her 1989 eponymous record and 1999’s “The Dawn of Ananda.” In 1994, under the name Annie Haslam’s Renaissance, she delivered “Blessing in Disguise,” an uplifting album that came in the wake of her successful battle with breast cancer.

The latest Renaissance release is 2014’s “Symphony of Light” [an expanded version of the previous year’s “Grandine il Vento”] The stunning title track, co-written by Haslam, ranks right up there with the group’s earlier masterpieces. It’s a tribute to Leonardo da Vinci. And the entire album shows that Haslam’s vocals remain exhilaratingly, mesmerizingly acrobatic and lovely. Every note she sings brims with honest feeling. Her voice is a heavenly instrument that transports listeners.

Concert DVDs are also currently available — 2015’s “Renaissance Live at The Union Chapel” and “Annie Haslam: Live Studio Concert, Philadelphia, 1997.”

As evidenced by the works displayed on her website, www.anniehaslam.com, Haslam is capable of delighting the eye, as well as the ear. You’ll be dazzled by the available array of richly imaginative, vibrantly colorful paintings. You can also commission a work on canvas or on a musical instrument. She even does pet portraits.

Haslam is busily preparing for the upcoming 2017 “Renaissance: A Symphonic Journey” tour, which will include four dates with a 10-piece chamber orchestra. It’s the first time in 40 years that Renaissance has performed live with an orchestra. A concert will be filmed for DVD release.

The band’s current lineup features Haslam, keyboardist Rave Tesar, keyboardist/vocalist Tom Brislin, guitarist/vocalist Mark Lambert, drummer/vocalist Frank Pagano and bassist/vocalist Leo Traversa. The tour the world and bask in audiences’ adulation.

Through many band dissolutions, reunions and reincarnations, the music, truly timeless, has survived and thrived.

The classical rock of Renaissance has proven to be classic indeed.

The delightful, immensely gifted Ms. Haslam proved to be generous with her time, as well as her indomitable spirit, as she spoke with Pop Culture Classics.

POP CULTURE CLASSICS:
Are you excited about the upcoming tour?

ANNIE HASLAM:
Yes, very. I just had a meeting about the filming, which is at the Keswick [Keswick Theater in Glenside, Pa., Oct. 27]. We’re talking about the lighting and different things. So it became more solid. It solidified it more [laughs], talking about what we were going to do exactly. So that was exciting. And peace of mind, as well, that that’s all in place now.

PCC:
So will this one have different material from the “Live at Union Chapel” DVD?

HASLAM:
Well, yes, we’re starting off with “Prologue,” which is such a wonderful opener for us, particularly because of the title. But apart from that — and I’m being selfish — it’s a really great song for me to get to sing at the beginning, to exercise my voice immediately, because I can sing higher notes a lot easier than lower notes, first, when I’m not warmed up particularly, exactly as I should be. So it really helps me warm up, that song [laughs]. But it’s a really great song. It’s very dramatic.

And we’re going to be adding several songs. We’re adding “Trip to the Fair,” which we haven’t done for several years now. We’re also putting in “At the Harbour,” which is from “Ashes Are Burning,” which is a very popular piece from the 70s. And, gosh, I don’t think we’ve done that it since the band reformed in 2009. I think the last time was probably sometime in the 70s. And also that’s going to be arranged for orchestra, as well. And “Kalynda” is another song that is going to be arranged with orchestra, which, on the recording didn’t have. We haven’t done that, God, I don’t now when we did that last — a long time ago.

And then the other one is “Island,” which was written by the original Renaissance, which was Keith Relf [vocals, guitar] and Jim McCarty [drums] with Keith’s sister Jane [vocals], Louis Cennamo on bass and John Hawken on piano. And that was my audition song, when I got the job with Renaissance. So I thought, “Ooh, I always wanted to do it. This is the perfect time.”

PCC:
The band has such a fervent following, I guess they know every piece of music that’s ever been recorded by Renaissance.

HASLAM:
They do. And if I forget any words, I soon know about it [laughs]. It rarely happens, but sometimes… and you look down and somebody gives you a weird look, because you have sung the wrong word.

PCC:
What’s the feeling for you with a chamber orchestra supporting the band and your vocals?

HASLAM:
Originally, we were invited to perform with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. This is a few years ago now, but after we rejoined again, reformed the band again, Michael Dunford and I. And we wanted so much to do it, but the cost of something like that is just unbelievable. But the RPO are an orchestra that’s world famous, as we know, and everybody wants to play with them. So for them to actually come to us… I got the email first of all from Ian Maclay, the Managing Director, saying, “We really enjoyed discussing past ventures that we did with different bands and remember fondly when we played the Albert Hall and Manchester and Birmingham with Renaissance. And we’d love to work with you again.”

We did have a meeting. Rave Tesar, who’s my sidekick in Renaissance now [keyboardist], Michael Dunford sadly passed away in 2012 [from a cerebral hemorrhage], and so Rave has been with me for many years and he was there. He’s the MP for the band. We’ve also written quite a few things together for my solo projects. And he records us now, as well.

And when we were in England last time, in 2015, we had a meeting with the Managing Director of the RPO and went through what we would need to do to put it all together. And it was so vast. But I think, because I’m the captain of the ship, there’s many things that need to be done and I think, at that moment in time, it was too much to try to even think about. We could have had a date this March. We could have gone for it. But my gut feeling was, not like it’s too soon, because I’ve been doing this for so long now, and I would absolutely love to do this, the Albert Hall again, with this new band, because the band is phenomenal. But we decided that we would try it out first of all over here and with a 10-piece chamber orchestra. And so that’s what we decided to do. It was Rave’s idea. I said, “Well, why don’t we test the waters? If it’s successful, then we can think about maybe going ahead and doing something with the RPO.

So yeah, it’s exciting. It just gives a whole lush feeling to the music. And the music is so perfect for it. As you know, we’ve recorded with orchestras anyway. So when the orchestra comes in, it’s just so uplifting. So I just hope I can control myself [laughs].

PCC:
It must be a whole different feeling, when you’re performing live with the orchestra.

HASLAM:
Oh, yeah, we did three nights at the Carnegie Hall [in 1975], so it was sold out. And we did the Albert Hall after that. I was just, oh God… I had fight back the tears. It just gave you goosebumps. It was amazing. And you could see the fans loved the music so much, they were crying, as well. You could see people sobbing, like “Whoa, this is incredible!” So everybody felt it at the same time.

Sadly, it was never filmed. We didn’t film the Carnegie Hall and we didn’t film the Albert Hall. It’s kind of sad that we don’t have a record of that. But we are filming this one at the Keswick, in Glenside. That’s on the 27th. But if we do another show with the Royal Philharmonic, then that will definitely be filmed.

PCC:
So when you first joined Renaissance, did you have an inkling that this was music that would stand the test of time so well?

HASLAM:
You know what? Let’s see, when I joined, it was 1971. So I was 24. So I was young [laughs]. And I didn’t write music. I didn’t read music. I didn’t play an instrument. I didn’t get involved in the business side of things. I just felt fortunate that I was in a band that was so unusual. And actually my job, I only sang one song on my own. The rest of it, I was a backing singer. There was a male singer called Terry Crowe at the time when I joined. And it was a six-piece band back then. And I didn’t think about it at all.

And the band changed quite a few times, as you probably know. But it progressed each time. And, of course, the more it’s gone on, the more I realize that we have something different. And, of course, we were one of the pioneers. Jim and Keith, they started it. They’re part of our history. And we couldn’t have done it without them. And so they started the whole thing. They were the pioneers. And we took over the banner and everything. And it just grew from there. It was incredible.

But now, we’ve built it back up again. I wasn’t sure what to do when Michael Dunford passed away, whether to carry. But we’d just done a new album, “Grandine il Vento,” and I thought, “Well, I know Mickey wouldn’t have wanted us just to shelve it… or put it out and not do anything about it.” So I decided to carry on. And it’s just wonderful all the things we’ve done since then. All the different things. And we just got back from Brazil. We did a fantastic tour of Brazil and Argentina. And so it’s wonderful.

I wish we could work more, but when you’ve got six people in the band and sound and things, it’s not cheap to go further afield. We’d love to go to the West Coast and Texas, but because the fan base isn’t as huge as it is up north, up here, the promoters are less likely to take a chance. So they might take a chance, but the money wouldn’t cover all our expenses. It’s kind of sad. People keep saying, “Why don’t you come out here? Why do you keep ignoring us?” And I keep writing back, “We’re not, you know. If you find us an angel investor, we’ll do it.” [Laughs] And that’s frustrating, that we’re not working as much as we’d like to. We just get used to playing and then, all of a sudden, the tour ends and there’s not another one for six months.

But we’re still going. And the fans are still there for us. And Facebook keeps a lot of things alive. I like to be in touch with people. And that’s really wonderful, too. And YouTube. I hated it at first. I thought, “Well, that’s not fair. People are seeing all this stuff and they’re not paying for it.” But it’s the most wonderful thing in the world to spread the word of anybody, really. So that’s helped a great deal. People find it on YouTube. And then they find out that we’ve got a website. They see the website. And they start coming to the shows again.

PCC:
But going back to the very beginning, with this amazing range of yours, how early did you realize that you had an exceptional gift?

HASLAM:
Well, not for a while. When I was six, I was in the school choir and I got thrown out for singing too loud. So that was the first time I… well, I knew I had a loud voice. I didn’t know anything at all about a gift. As I grew up, I decided I wanted to be a nurse, a ballerina. And then I wanted to be a dress designer. I was in fashion.

And my dad was an amateur comedian-singer. His voice was tremendous. Looking back on it now and remembering him singing, I can remember his voice, he had a tenor’s voice. He probably could have done something. But he was a dad and there was no one to say, “George, your voice is amazing!” — so he would do something with it. He doesn’t think like that.

But my brother Michael was discovered by Brian Epstein and managed by Brian Epstein for several years. And he introduced me to the music of The Beatles. While my brother was singing, I didn’t start singing until I had a boyfriend called Eric Peacock and we used to go to parties and when I’d have a couple of glasses of cider — I wasn’t a big drinker — I’d get a little piddly and I’d start singing with everybody else and he’d say, “Wow, you’ve got a great voice.” And he started putting me into talent competitions. I was terrified. But I did these talent competitions. And I kept winning them. And then I went for this job at the dinner cabaret theatre called The Showboat in the Strand, in London. That must have been about ’68, ’69, something like that. And I got the job there with their band [The Gentle People]. And I was there for about six months.

It was a trio — bass guitar, drums and electric guitar — and me. And then the guitarist in the group, a great guy, David Gardner, said, “Annie, you know you should be doing something different. Your voice is different.” He said, “I’ve just seen this advert in the Melody Maker for a girl singer for an internationally known pop group.” And so he said, “Why don’t you go for it?” So I called up.

So they were away in Europe. So I bought the album and I learned it back to front. And I went to the audition and I got the job on New Year’s Eve. At the audition, I sang “Island.” I learned it so I couldn’t learn it any better. It was brilliant, really. And that’s the one they asked me to sing. And they called me the next day and I got the job. Within like four or five weeks, we were in Germany, touring.

PCC:
Going back a bit, what were your impressions of Brian Epstein?

Renaissance Live in Niteroi, Brazil, 2017

HASLAM:
I never met him. I was still living in Cornwall with my mum and dad, when that happened. My brother was still living up north in Bolton, which is where we came from. We came to Cornwall for my mother’s health. And we moved to this beautiful place by the ocean called Fowey. just gorgeous place. And it was wonderful, because I escaped my school bully. I had a school bully that made my life a misery for a couple of years. And that was my escape from her.

And so just before I did leave there, though, instead of me going out to work, my mum and dad put me in a secondary art school, which was academics and also arts, because they could see that I was creative. They didn’t know what it was at that point, but they knew there was something there. So they let me go there. And then when I got to Cornwall, I went to a secondary modern school for a couple years.

Then I went to art school again. That’s when I wanted to be a dress designer. I did everything concerned with that. And I did one painting, one watercolor, and I was so annoyed with it, because it dried so quickly, I thought, “I can’t be bothered with this.” So I didn’t do any more painting until 2002. And it’s now my second career, as you may know. And, oh, God, I love it so. I can’t tell you. It’s like an extension, really, of my voice.

But it’s funny. When I joined the band, I never really thought — I was very innocent when I joined the band — I didn’t think that my voice was anything special, because nobody told me. Nobody in the band praised me or anything. They just said, “You, know, you’ve got a good voice.” But it was this guy called Mickey Stewart, who was our sound man, a lovely guy from up north. And he mixed our sound. And he said to me one day, he said, “Have you any idea what your voice is like? There’s nothing like it. It’s unique.” And I had no idea. Not that it made any difference. But it was interesting and nice to know.

And then, of course, after that, when we came to America, I joined the band in ’71 and by ’75, we were in Carnegie Hall. It was amazing. But the music, right from the first band, “Kings and Queens” and “Island” and “Wanderer” — the songs are just fabulous. And I think we did very well, when we took it over and started writing, with Jon Camp, Michael Dunford, Terry Sulllivan, John Tout and myself. And everybody pitched in. And Mickey [Dunford] would come with a song and Betty Thatcher would write the words. And then we’d all work on it to make it into these masterpieces. But every one we did — they were just amazing.

PCC:
Your brother Michael, online I’ve heard tracks of him singing. He really has a lovely voice, as well.

HASLAM:
Oh, isn’t it gorgeous? Oh, gosh.

PCC:
Did George Martin produce him at one point?

HASLAM:
He did. Michael only ever did two singles. And George Martin produced the four songs that Michael recorded. Burt Bacharach gave him one of the songs.

PCC:
Oh, really?

HASLAM:
Yeah. And he was on TV shows and everything. But, unfortunately… And he really liked Brian. I mean, everybody loved Brian. I mean, he was such a lovely man, apparently — very warm. But Michael was signed up at the time when The Beatles were getting really big. And he had a lot on his plate, Brian, and he had to let some people go, because he couldn’t focus on everything. So unfortunately, my brother Michael was one of the ones who was let go, because he was one of the last in the stable. And it broke his heart. And then he kind of went back up north and just carried on singing in pubs and things.

It’s a shame. He had a great offer from Robert Stigwood, who is very famous. He was into musicals and everything [and managed The Bee Gees and Cream]. A very, very famous man. And he wanted to manage Michael after Brian let him go and Michael said no. I didn’t know this for many, many years. And my gosh, if I’d known that, I would have made sure that he carried on. He would have become a big star, because his voice was a cross between Roy Orbison and Elvis Presley. And it’s the timbre in his voice that’s different. He had a very unique voice, like me, and my dad the same. We all had this unique timbre in our voices, this unique sound.

PCC:
So he was just too disillusioned to try again, Michael?

HASLAM:
Yeah, he was heartbroken. And I guess he didn’t have enough people around him to give him the support, to say, “Come on, Michael, pull yourself together.” I mean, I’ve got some amazing people around me. I think I’m a lot stronger, though, maybe spiritually, I’m not quite sure. But in a different way, because I’m a woman, as well. But I will never give up, even when I had breast cancer. I can’t. I’ve got to keep going and going and going.

I mean, I can’t believe I’m still singing at this age and still working and feeling like I’m 20 years old. Everybody’s different. Everybody grows older differently. And everybody has a different way of dealing with problems and such sadness and things like he had to deal with.

I had a problem, when Epic Records signed me up and my album [the 1989 self-titled solo album] got delayed a few months, because I had to go back to England, because my mother had Alzheimer’s and she was in a terrible state.

My brother Michael and his wife, who were taking care of her, she’d got shingles, because it was just too much for them. They took care of her very well, but my mother, in the middle of the night, would start climbing out of the window. She didn’t know what she was doing. So I got a call saying, “You’ve got to come home.”

And we were right in the middle of recording my Epic album, the one that Larry Fast produced. And so the album was on hold for a couple of months, which meant that everything was put back and it was close to when Basia, who was a Polish singer, she had an album coming up to be released. And so what they did, they had to make a decision — Do they put the money into Basia or do they put the money into promoting me? And because Basia was guaranteed to sell 400,000 albums, at least, they put the money and everything into her. And they released my album, but they did nothing with it. It was heartbreaking. And then, after a couple of months, they let me go. And I was signed up for like eight albums.

I cried my eyes out, but then I thought, “Just gotta carry on.” So I didn’t give up. And I wish I’d been older than Michael or had some say to help him carry on and not give up, because he would have been a big, big star. He was a good-looking man, as well. But he died about 12 years ago now from brain cancer. He was an intense person, but very gifted.

PCC:
During his time with Brian Epstein, did you have any Beatle encounters?

HASLAM:
Yeah, well, actually, not with them at that time. But later on I did, with my fiancé at the time, Roy Wood [The Move, Electric Light Orchestra and Wizzard]. But with Michael, he was on tour with The Beatles. He did two of their Christmas shows in 1964. I think The Beatles did maybe four of them and Michael did two of them. That was incredible for him, because Dionne Warwick was on there, really famous people — and he was part of the show, the Christmas shows.

And he did a tour with them and they came to Plymouth and at that point, we’d moved, for my mum’s health, down to Cornwall. And Michael was coming to Plymouth, which was about 40, 50 miles from where we lived. So we went to see the show. And we met Michael outside at the stage door in the afternoon, when they’d just gotten there and were doing the sound check. And Michael said, “Come on now, let’s go backstage and you can meet the boys.” Right? And I was so shy, I wouldn’t go in. So my dad said, “I’ll stay with our Anne” — they called me, “Our Anne” — and my mum went in and met all of them [laughs].

And then I met Ringo. Roy and I went to Trader Vic’s in Park Lane — Polynesian restaurant. I don’t know if they have those anymore. Oh, God, it was fabulous. It was so much fun. And it was my first date with Roy, actually. The song “Trip to the Fair” was born out of that first dinner, because we went to the fairground on Hampstead Heath after we’d had dinner and it was too late. When we got there, there was nobody there.

Betty had said, “Let me know how your date went.” So I called her and said, “Well, we had a fabulous dinner and we went to the fair on Hampstead Heath and it was closed down. It was pretty eerie and everything.” And that’s when she wrote the “Trip to the Fair” lyrics.

And then another time, Roy and I went to dinner there and we had to wait for our table, so we went into the bar. And there’s Ringo sitting there with Harry Nilsson. And Ringo shouts out, “Roy! Come over here! Have a drink!” So we went over and had a drink with them. And that was interesting [laughs].

And then the next time, Roy produced my “Annie in Wonderland” album at De Lane Lea Studios. Paul was in the big studio with Linda and Denny Laine. They were mixing “Wings at the Speed of Sound.” And I’d just finished my vocals on “If I Loved You.” And then Paul McCartney walked in. And he said, “Whose voice is that?” I raised my hand, sheepishly. [in a little, wavering voice] “Me.” And he said, “My God, that voice sent shivers down my spine.” And then he came in and we were talking for about an hour. And we were all enthralled by him. He’s a real gentleman. And interesting. I mentioned my brother Michael and he remembered him, of course, from the early days. Yeah, those were my encounters. I never met George. I’d loved to have met George. And John, of course. But I only met Paul and Ringo.

PCC:
When you met Harry Nilsson, was that when he was in the midst of his wild, carousing exploits? Or was he on his good behavior?

HASLAM:
Oh, he was well behaved. He was very nice. What a lovely man. He was very sweet. God, “Without You,” even though he didn’t write that [written by Pete Ham and Tom Evans of Badfinger]. That’s one of my favorite songs of all time, “Without You.” But he was very nice. And yeah, I think that killed him, didn’t it — alcohol? That was very sad. But no, we had a nice time with him. We weren’t there very long, maybe a half an hour before we went in to have our dinner. But that was an experience for sure.

PCC:
So, this remarkable voice of yours, did you have a lot of formal training?

Annie Haslam's painting "The Lost Shamrock"

HASLAM:
Well, I had nine months with an opera singer. Before I got the job at the Showboat in the Strand, my brother’s live-in-girlfriend heard me singing the end of “The Saint.” Remember “The Saint”? Roger Moore? [wordlessly sings part of the theme]. Remember that? And she heard me singing that. And she said, “Gosh, your voice is lovely! You should go get some singing lessons, so that you can breathe properly.” That was the main thing. That’s why you did that.

And she recommended Harold Miller. And she’d been to him. He only taught in the daytime. And I had a day job. But he was also Shirley Bassey’s teacher. So I went to him in the daytime, took a day off work to see him. And I didn’t read music. And I still don’t read music or write music. And he said, “Well, if I play something and you know it, you can sing along with it.” So he asked me to sing “I Could Have Danced All Night” from “My Fair Lady.” And I knew it. So I sang it. And he said, “Oh, gosh, your voice is lovely. It’s pure and it’s different.” He said, “I wish I could teach you, but I only teach in the daytime.” But he said, “I have a lady called Sybil Knight and she’s an opera singer and she teaches in the West End.” And I went to her for nine months and she taught me how to sing from my diaphragm.

And before then, I was copying Joan Baez and Joni Mitchell, mainly Joan Baez. That’s what a lot of people do is they emulate their favorite singer, which is what happens on these shows like “The Voice” and “American Idol,” is that they sound like everybody else. And that’s not the object here. You need to go find your own voice. And you can find your voice if you’re taught how to sing properly from your diaphragm, with a certain discipline.

And after I’d done the nine months, I found out that I’ve got five octaves. And I found my own voice. And it was an experience. It was quite amazing. And when anybody asks for advice, I say, “Find your own voice, you’ll be okay. Learn to sing from your diaphragm.” And a lot of people have listened to that advice. One particular girl from Philadelphia, she became a singer, because she did exactly what I suggested. She went and found her own voice and she ended up a professional singer.

PCC:
She had just been one of your fans?

HASLAM:
Yes. So I love being able to spread that kind of advice, because it’s from my own experiences, as well. So it’s a good feeling.

PCC:
So when you answered the ad in Melody Maker, was Jane Relf still on board at that time?

HASLAM:
No, there was a short, interim period of about six months. And Michael Dunford joined. Mickey was the lead guitarist. And a singer called “Binky” Cullom, she was in it for six months. And the drummer was called Terry Slade. And Terry Crowe [vocals]. And Neil Korner became the bass player. And… who else was in it? The keyboardist was John Tout.

And when I went down there, that’s who the band was. But when I went to the audition, which was on New Year’s Eve, 1970, Jim McCarty and Keith Relf were there. I did get to meet them.

PCC:
What were your impressions of them?

HASLAM:
Oh, they were lovely, very nice. I didn’t feel like intimidated or anything. They were very nice people. But they wanted to see who would be singing. Singing the songs, as well, was important. And everybody decided that my voice was just perfect for the music.

PCC:
And Keith and Jim were the ones who originated this very innovative concept.

HASLAM:
Yes they were. They were in The Yardbirds. I think they had been touring for many years. And they were going to have a break. They had a short break, instead of a good, long break, and maybe should have had a longer break, because they soon got tired of it, because they had been touring for so long. So I think they were only in the band about six months. They did some things in Europe, maybe a couple of shows in America. Yeah, that didn’t last long. Then they brought Binky in and she wanted to leave, so I joined. For a while it was six pieces. And then, not so long after that, the agency, John Sherry Agency, brought in Miles Copland. Oh, Ed Bicknell was one of the bookers when I joined the band. And he’s the man who made Dire Straits into this huge band. He’s a brilliant mind. And he booked us at that time. And then Miles Copland came along and he’s the one who took over management of us. And he fired everybody except me and John Tout. Kept Michael Dunford on as a writer. And then we formed a new band around me and John Tout and Michael and Betty’s songs.

And the first person to join was Jon Camp [bassist/vocalist]. The funny thing is, he used to be in a band called The New Seekers. And I went for an audition with them at one point. And I didn’t get the job. And when he walked in, I thought, “Ooh, look at this!” [Laughs] And yeah, it was him. But obviously, yeah, he was perfect for the job. We did have a guy just for a short time, before Terry [Sullivan], called Ginger Dixon [drummer]. He came over to Europe with us. Gosh, I forgot about that. There were so many different bands. Let me see what happened then. And then Terry came in last. So it became five of us. And then we took on this amazing guitarist called Mickey [Mick] Parsons.

And we went down to Cornwall. And I lived with Miles, who was my boyfriend for two years. And we went to see my parents in Cornwall. And Mickey’s [Mick Parsons] parents lived in Cornwall. And we all went down to Cornwall for a few days before we came back to start rehearsing for the tour with the new band. And unfortunately, while we were down there, Mickey had a car crash and died. Oh and he was lovely. He was a songwriter. He looked fabulous. He had a great personality. His singing voice was just incredible. And his guitar-playing was to die for. It was heartbreaking. I mean, we were just beside ourselves.

So anyway, we had to move on. So eventually we brought in Rob Hendry, an electric guitarist. And he was okay, but he didn’t quite fit. And that’s when we decided, after “Prologue,” that we were going to bring back Mickey [Dunford, who had been reserving himself for composing and production work, rather than live performances] and use the acoustic guitar, as opposed to the electric guitar. And that’s when it became Jon Camp, John Tout, Michael Dunford, Terry Sullivan and me.

PCC:
Having been brought in as a backing vocalist and then stepping into the lead vocalist role, was that daunting at all or you knew you were ready?

HASLAM:
No, it was just natural. I was never really nervous about going on stage. Although, when I first went on stage, I used to hold my hands in front of me, like I was praying [laughs], like “Oh, God, help me!” And I wouldn’t let my hands go. I think that was the only thing that was nervous about me. I didn’t really feel nervous. But I was afraid to open my arms up and put my arms in the air and sing out, which I do now. It’s completely different now, because I’ve grown up [laughs].

PCC:
The complexity of the band’s music, was that part of the appeal to you, as a vocalist?

HASLAM:
Well, it was so melodic. And Betty’s words are so interesting, full of passion and stories. But the melodies, I think that’s what appeals to the people who love Renaissance, because the melodies are easy to follow. Beautiful melodies. And I think just the combination of the five of us was just incredible.

And it’s different now, obviously. It’s still an amazing band. It’s just different. You can’t say one’s better than the other.

PCC:
So were Michael and Betty writing specifically for your voice early on?

HASLAM:
Well, they wrote for Jane originally. But yeah, as Michael got used to my voice, and Betty, as well. And some of the songs, like “Trip to the Fair,” were about me and my situation. And then “Ocean Gypsy” was about me. So several of the songs, she wrote with me in mind.

PCC:
What do you think was so magical about her lyrics, generally?

HASLAM:
Well, I think she channeled them. It’s like my paintings, I never know where they’re coming from. I open up and it just pours out like water. I think that Betty said the same thing. She felt like she plugged into somewhere else, because she didn’t have to think about it.

It’s like me, if I’m doing a pet portrait or I’m doing something specific, I look at it and I don’t need to look at it again. It’s gone in and it does something inside of me and then everything pours out.

PCC:
Michael Dunford, working with him for so much of the band’s history, what did you think his unique gifts were, both as guitarist and composer?

HASLAM:
Oh, I don’t think Mickey really knew how incredible the music really was. I’m more of an open book. I love to learn about things. Spiritual things. I’m open to all kinds of things, whereas a lot of people aren’t. They stick to what they know. They won’t accept anything else. I’m not like that. So I said to him, “I don’t think you have any idea how this music affects people.” They say it and they sound so excited, but I just don’t think he hears it properly. He doesn’t hear what’s being said.

And also the tones, as well. Sometimes music, it doesn’t have to be lyrics particularly either, it can be just some of the tones. They grab you. It’s like when you hear film music sometimes and there might be three notes together that you go [gasp] “Ohhhhh!” You know what I mean? It just gets you in your gut.

And when Mickey used to come, I remember he came to rehearse and we said, “What’s this one called?” And he said, “Oh, it’s called ‘Mother Russia.’” I thought, “God, that’s an odd title.” “What’s it about?” And, of course, Betty had read the book “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.” And that really touched her. And that’s what that whole thing was about. But we did a little demo. I don’t know if I’ve got it anywhere. I said to Mickey, “We should find that demo and put it out, so people can hear it.” It was just my voice and him playing acoustic guitar — “Mother Russia.” So he used to come with these songs and play them to us and we all went, [gasp of delight] “Ohhhhhh. My God!” And then we’d have the joy of putting them all together.

And yeah, very special. It’s not just rock ’n’ roll. I’m not saying rock ’n’ roll is bad. All music is good, if it’s written with good intentions. If it’s not with good intentions, it’s not going to sound good. It’s just going to be a noise. I don’t like noisy music. I have to be touched by it.

PCC:
In addition to touching them, were you conscious of expanding the musical horizons of many of the listeners with what you were doing as a band, in the 70s?

HASLAM:
Well, we did have a hit with a song called “Northern Lights.” It got to number seven in the charts in England. And we never really wrote anything with the idea that we were going to write a single, because everybody else, like the management, wanted you to do that, because they’re thinking about the money — “We’re sure you can write a single.”

Anyway, we wrote “Northern Lights.” And “Northern Lights” was about me —my meeting Roy back in northern England. And the northern lights of England. That’s what the song’s about. It’s not like the Aurora Borealis. It’s about me getting on a plane and coming over to America to work. He being over there. That’s what the song was all about.

But when we recorded that album, which is “A Song for All Seasons,” we were just finishing up — they kind of crossed over a little bit — my solo album, “Annie in Wonderland.” And during that album, Roy taught me so many things about singing. He said, “Come on, let’s do some scat singing here in ‘Nature Boy.’” And I said, “Oh, I don’t know if I want to do that.” And he said, “Try it, please.” So I learned a lot. It was wonderful. And “Let’s do some treble-tracking,” because of course, Roy’s had so many hits in England, and a lot of his vocals have been treble-tracked.

PCC:
Meaning three tracks of the vocal?

HASLAM:
Yeah. Three tracks was a lot in those days. Of course, you can do thousands now. So I was in the studio and we’d done “Northern Lights” and there was something missing. I said to Mickey, “You know what? I think I should treble-track the lead vocal, like I did on my solo album with a couple of the songs.” And we tried it and it completely transformed it. It just sounded like a hit single… And it became a hit single.

PCC:
It just enriches the voice, gives it more depth?

HASLAM:
Yeah, it does. It enriched it. It was three of me [laughs]! But it wasn’t flat before, but it just raised it to another level. And we heard it played back and we all were, “Wow! God!This is amazing!” It was very thrilling. And then it was a hit. We were in America, just finishing up an American tour, and we get this call. Somebody shouts out in soundcheck, “The message just came through from England — when you get back home, you’re going on ‘Top of the Pops,’ because ‘Northern Lights’ has entered the charts.” Oh, that was so exciting. We couldn’t believe it.

PCC:
What was it like, being part of the 70s London scene? There were so many diverse artists coming up. That must have been exciting.

HASLAM:
Yeah, it was. We used to play some of the clubs in London, lots of different small clubs, and the Redding Festival, those kinds of things. And we played with like Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce — was it Cream? Yeah, Cream was on the same bill as us at this club in London. And we played at the Marquee Club in London quite a few times. That was where a lot of great bands got their starts. Vinegar Joe. Robert Palmer was in Vinegar Joe with Elkie Brooks. That was an amazing band. But yeah, there were some fantastic bands around then really.

I remember when we were rehearsing in a place called Little Chalfont. It used to belong to Dirk Bogarde, the British actor. It’s a fabulous place. And it was bought by a guy who was in another group — gosh, I can see his face now, but I can’t think of his name. But anyway, he bought it and he made the two barns into studios. And we were in one and Jethro Tull were in the next one. So it was really quite amazing.

And then, funnily enough, I ended up being a good friend of Gary Brooker, from Procol Harum. When they came over in 2010, I got to play alongside them. I called him up and said, “Gary, you’re coming over. Can we come and open up for you?” And we got on the bill. We did the Tropicana in Atlantic City. And we did a fabulous place called Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania, Kennett Square, open air. Oh, my God, it was amazing. Great combination of bands. It was perfect for us.

And, of course, Yes. I’m very friendly with Steve Howe. And John Wetton from Asia, bless his heart. He passed away recently. He was a close friend of mine. We did the Moody Blues Cruise. And we did the Cruise to the Edge, as well, a couple of years ago. And we did the very first Yestival.

And funnily enough, our old band ended and the new one began and I became friendly with all these people we used to adore. People like Patrick Moraz, became actual friends. And I have recorded with Steve Howe, as well. We did our version of “Turn of the Century.” And Justin Hayward gave me a song called “The Angels Cry,” which is on my solo album on Epic Records. And he played on it and sang on the chorus.

I’ve also worked with David Sancious, who was in the E Street Band. Not David Sanchez, [the saxophonist], but David Sancious, the keyboard player. Oh, my God, he’s just phenomenal. We did some recording together. I’ve been very fortunate with the people that I’ve met. I haven’t recorded with Phoebe Snow, but she became a very close friend of mine. She’s also in heaven, unfortunately. So I feel blessed. Thinking of all the experiences I’ve had in the music business, my God, I’ve been so fortunate.

PCC:
And Ian Anderson, you worked with him, as well?

HASLAM:
Oh, yes. The promoter Bill Rogers in Philadelphia, who’s promoting the Keswick show that we’re filming this time, he called me — the BRE, they always book us, when we play Philly — and he called me about seven or eight years ago now — to say that Ian Anderson was coming and he was doing his “Rubbing Elbows tour,” and he wanted to know if I would like to join him on stage and perform “Northern Lights,” because it was one of his favorite singles. And so I went and did that. That was fabulous. I had a great time doing that. And I didn’t expect or want to be paid for anything like that, because that’s not what you do. But when it came to when we recorded “Cry to the World,” on “Grandine il Vento,” which is now called “Symphony of the Light,” by the way, because we put it out with three bonus tracks and this distribution company wants to change it around. But it’s the same album, basically, with three extra tracks.

But when we did “Cry to the World,” it was crying out for a flute on it. And Jason [keyboardist Jason Hart], who is on the album, he put a really great synthesized flute on it. But I thought, “You know what? I’m going to call Ian and see if he’ll put a flute on it.” And I contacted him and he said, “Yeah, send me the files over and I’ll put something down.” And have you seen the video? [Laughs] That was done on the spur of the moment. The guy who did that, he filmed the “Union Chapel” DVD of ours that we did in London, 2014. And he said to me one day, “Annie, do you have any videos? Have you done any solo videos or any videos recently? Music videos?” I said, “No, because we can’t afford it.” He said, “What are you doing on Saturday? Let’s do one on Saturday.” We were going to go to Manchester, because we’d finished editing the DVD. And he said, “Would you like to go to Manchester?” Because I used to go there, when I was a little girl, from living in Bolton. He said, “What do you want to do? Do you want go to Manchester? Or should we do a music video?” And so we did a music video.

And the land that we did it on belonged to this beautiful bed and breakfast, this old farm house that I stayed in, that had got Jodrell Bank [the observatory in the northwest of England, which has one of the largest steerable dish radio telescopes in the world] in the background, the big satellite dish. And it seemed to fit somehow, because I’m a believer in UFOs and all that stuff. I mean, there’s no doubt in my mind. And it transmitted my voice out, what I was doing at that moment. And it was the 4th of July, when we filmed that and I didn’t realize it. And it was so much fun. I didn’t really have the right clothes. I didn’t know how I was going to do it, because I wasn’t really prepared for it. But it came out so lovely.

PCC:
The songwriting, when did that begin for you?

HASLAM:
When I did my Epic album, I did a song with Peter Bliss called “One Love” and it was actually about Richard Gere, because I had a crush on him. And he was going to be on the album. He was going to play on the album with me. It was all arranged and everything. And I went to California to do some session work and while I was out there, I was supposed to meet with him. At that time, he was filming a movie where he was a crooked cop. It was horrible, actually. I saw part of it. I couldn’t watch it. But apparently it really upset him. So anyway, it never happened. He never got to do it. But he did write to me, a lovely note about the album — good luck with it and all that kind of thing. But I wrote it about him, yeah. It’s called “One Love.” Then I did another one on that album called “She’s The Light,” which is a short piece. That’s about my mother. And then it goes into another song called “Celestine,” who was a friend of mine, who’s a clairvoyant. And she’s the one who said I was going to move to America and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah and all these things. And she was tiny. And it starts off, “so tiny, dressed in blue.” It’s gorgeous song.

PCC:
So did the writing come naturally to you?

HASLAM:
“Celestine” came easily. And so did “She’s the Light.” “One Love” did, in a way, because I believed in what I was writing. I was excited about it. And then I did more on “Blessing in Disguise.” And I co-wrote songs with Tony Visconti.

And also with Rave, who’s in Renaissance. One’s called “‘Michael’ Prince of Angels,” [from the “The Dawn of Ananda” album] that I wrote with Rave. And then the other is “Twig.”

And then another song on that album is called “Precious One,” that Michael Dunford wrote and I wrote the words. And it’s about, I read a book by John Edward, the psychic medium. I opened up for him at the Town Hall in New York and sang my song “Summon the Angels” a cappella. And in his book, he was talking about this little baby, this two-year-old boy called Mikey who had fallen into a swimming pool while his mother and father were in the other end of the pool. But they got to him too late. But he came through in a reading for them. And so I wrote this song about Mikey, this little boy. And when the album was finished, I contacted the mother, to let her know that I was going to be sending the album and that it had the song on it that I wrote for Mikey. And so she was driving along and Mikey came to her, while she was driving, and said “There is something going to be coming to you today.” And the CD actually arrived that day, when she got home.

And “‘Michael’ Prince of Angels,” when I lost all my hair when I’d had breast cancer and it was coming back, I wasn’t feeling all that brilliant and I was thankful to be alive. And I went with three friends to a trans-channeler. And this lady, who’s known in the area, she’s a pretty gifted lady, she sat down, and she started speaking with like a different voice, almost like a man’s voice, and she turned around to me and said, “The cancer’s left your body. And Michael, Prince of Angels, is standing behind you, with his emerald green wings.” And so I wrote the song about “Michael” Prince of Angels.

PCC:
With “Blessing in Disguise,” did creating that album allow you to channel the emotions from the battle with breast cancer?

HASLAM:
Yes. I was writing. And I was with my ex-husband and I wanted to do an album, so I contacted Tony Visconti, who I’d had contact with a few years before, when I was trying to get hold of Justin. And I knew he was a producer. And I said, “Tony, I’m doing an album. Would you be interested in writing some songs with me?” And immediately, like within a week I think it was, we were writing songs together. And the main song, “Blessing in Disguise,” when I did that, it flowed so easily. And I really wasn’t quite sure what it was about. It’s like some of my paintings — I can do a painting and think, “What the heck is that?” And it won’t come to me for a while or it will come to me the next day or I’ll turn it upside down and say, “Oh, my God, look at that, there it is!” And it’s like that sometimes when I’ve written songs. I’ll think, “What is that? I don’t know.”

And then I got breast cancer, when we were writing it. It all happened during that time period. And then I realized that that song, I had written it ahead of time… and it was about my cancer. “Blessing in Disguise.”

PCC:
Was the music a healing factor for you?

HASLAM:
Oh, God, yeah. And Tony’s such a wonderful soul. And the couple of weeks where I really felt terrible, and I had the lumpectomy and I had the radiation and chemotherapy…and I remember one time I had the chemotherapy and I got home feeling sick as a dog and then two days later, I’d be in my car, driving up to Tony’s studio in New York. And I’d stay up there in the apartment. And as soon as I started singing, I felt like a million dollars. It really helped me through that period of time.

PCC:
And then you had to deal with a broken back at one point?

HASLAM:
Well, that was 2012, yeah. I’ve got a dislocated vertebra.

PCC:
How do you deal with the rigors of touring?

HASLAM:
Well, I wore a brace for nine months and that helped me a great deal. And I have this treatment now called Prolia and that helps me with that and also the Osteoporosis that I have in my spine. If I’m not allowed to take that anymore, if it becomes too expensive… I’m not going to get into political things, but if everything changes as to what it is now, I won’t be around too long, I don’t think, because this will probably collapse.

Right now, because of the treatment I’m having, it’s keeping it at bay. But if I’m not going to be able to pay for a pre-existing condition, then I won’t be around much longer. Like a lot of people. So there’s a lot of stuff going on, on the planet right now, breaks my heart. We all have to just do what we can and live every moment with good thoughts and try and be positive and not be negative and just be hopeful that things will get better, completely do a turnaround and everything will be all right.

PCC:
I’ve heard recent clips of you singing. The voice is still magnificent. Do you have a special regimen for keeping it in top shape?

HASLAM:
I think it just comes from my soul. I don’t practice all the time. If we’re doing a tour, I don’t start singing until maybe the week before [laughs]. Because there are so many other millions of things. I’ve got so many hats I’ve got to wear now, dealing with all kinds of things. It’s exciting, but it’s all on my shoulders.

I like wine. I like French champagne. I love nice wine, but I’m trying not to drink it very often, because it’s not good for your throat, if you’re a singer. It’s acidic. And that’s not good. I love Indian food, but it burns the vocal cords. So you’ve got to be very careful. Tomato sauce. Anything with cooked tomatoes, that’s going to get your vocal cords, as well. So right now I’m kind of taking it easy. I’m being very careful what I’m eating.

PCC:
You mentioned “Annie in Wonderland” — the solo albums, was it just time for you to express yourself outside of the parameters of Renaissance?

HASLAM:
Well, what happened was, “Annie in Wonderland,” let me think, that was the time when John Tout got very sick. And he couldn’t work for about two months. So Seymour Stein, he was the head of Sire Records, he created that with Richard Gottehrer… And I remember talking to Roy, because we were living together, and I said, “Maybe this would be a good time for me to do a solo album.” So I contacted Sire Records and they said, “Absolutely.”

PCC:
And you were engaged to Roy for four years. What are your memories of him?

HASLAM:
He’s an absolute genius. We’re still friends, which is good.

PCC:
What impressed you most about him as an artist?

HASLAM:
Oh, God, we slept on an eight-foot waterbed — just for anybody who wants to know that [laughs] — that was the 70s, you know, an eight-foot round waterbed. And if you were a restless sleeper, it was difficult for the other person. But in the middle of the night, he started singing in his sleep. It sounded like a hit single to me — a bit like Mozart, it just pours out, that finished piece. And I thought, “Oh, my God, how do I get out of the waterbed” — which was round — I would say for the next, I don’t know how long, it felt like days, I was moving slightly, like an inch at a time, trying to not move the water in the bed, so I could get out of the bed and go and get a tape recorder. And it did disturb him. And I told him. And then after that, we had a tape recorder right by the side of the bed, on the edge of the waterbed [laughs], ready if he did it again. He’s a genius! Just a genius!

He gets these amazing ideas. He’s got an amazing charisma about him, if you talk to him. He’s very endearing. He’s very funny. Oh, my God! I mean, I’ve never laughed so much in all my life as when I was with him. Very funny man.

PCC:
And your paintings, they are gorgeous. Do you find that one creative endeavor feeds the other?

HASLAM:
Well, sometimes it’s difficult to do both in the same day, because there’s so much going on with the shows now. What I do at the shows is I sell these little 4x6-inch paintings that I do. And people are collecting them now. So I’m behind on those. And what’s happening at the Keswick, we’re going to have behind us on stage, behind the orchestra, like long, 24x12-inch canvases — I’ve got to paint 11 of those, one for each song. They will be enlarged to 12x24 feet and projected onto a screen behind the stage, covering the whole back wall of the theatre.

We did it once before in 2014 at the Keswick, but the projector wasn’t strong enough, so the images were too dark. It still looked interesting, but it wasn’t what it was supposed to be. So this time, we’re spending time on doing it really properly. And I’m really excited about it. And we did this wonderful Indiegogo campaign that so many people helped us with, to make all this happen. So if any of them are reading this, I want to thank them, because it’s all the fans who always keep us going. It’s amazing really.

PCC:
And the painting, do you find that to be therapeutic? Another release for you?

HASLAM:
Oh, my gosh, yeah. I can’t meditate. I can’t close my mind off at all. It’s very difficult for me, because there’s so much going on. I’ve always been like that, even as a child. And I wasn’t a reader. I don’t read. I have to do. I do things and if I do it wrong, I’ll do it again and I’ll get it right. But painting is like meditation to me, because I go somewhere else. Sometimes I can paint in silence, sometimes I have music on. But a lot of the time — it’s like it’s really hot in my studio right now and I don’t think I can work in there until later on today maybe a little bit — but what I do is I put my computer on and I don’t really watch them, but I guess it’s comforting to have them on — old English movies. And I just love it. And it just does something to me. I love it.

PCC:
Do ever find that the work of other great visual artists, maybe the masters, inspires you either in the painting or in the music?

HASLAM:
Visually, absolutely. When I first started painting, it was a voice in my head, out of the blue, that said, “It’s time to start oil painting now.” And I’ve had this happen to me three or four times in my life — very strong messages. And I’ve done what they said and something’s happened, big, every time. So I completely cleaned up my sun room and made it into a studio to paint. I bought canvases, easels, paints, everything. Oil paints — because it was a specific thing.

And I bought a book on oil painting. I read one page and thought, “Oh, I can’t be bothered with this.” [Laughs] The reading thing again. So I thought, “I’ll just teach myself.” So anyway, two months went by and all of a sudden, I woke up one day and that was the day to start. So I went out and picked a Tiger Lily. And I started and I thought, “Where do I start?” Because I didn’t read the book.

So I had terps and oil paint and I just kind of taught myself how to do it. And started with this ground at the bottom and blue sky and the flower. And I thought, “Why am I painting a flower? This isn’t what I’m supposed to be doing. It’s not me.” And I got upset. I kind of got anxious, thinking, “Something’s going on. What is it? Tell me, please.”

Anyway, when I did the bottom part of the painting — the ground — I felt like somebody was holding my hand. There was all this movement in it and texture. I thought, “Wow! Where is that coming from?” When I finished it, I looked and I got upset and then I thought, “Well, somebody was helping me with this grass. I’m going to paint one now and it’s going to be all grass.” I felt the same thing. I felt somebody was guiding my hand. And it all had this different texture. And it all flowed very beautifully, very simple. It’s like a 9x12 painting.

And then after that, I did an ocean with a UFO floating over the top of it. Then after that, I was doing different planets. And I did one that was all red. And when I was doing the painting, something happened in my studio right in front of me. A skein, like from a spider’s web came right down in front of my eyes — you might think I’m crazy, but I’m not, this is what happened — came down in front of my eyes and it had a spider on the end of it. It was about six inches away from my face. And it had this tiny little spider on it that was kind of auburn red. Not red-red. Auburn red. And I went, “Whoa!”

And I blinked and it was gone. And once I blinked and it was gone, my whole studio filled with the odor of pipe smoke. Guess who that was — Vincent Van Gogh. And the painting that I did, it was like it was his sky. And I didn’t do it with any thought at all. It’s like his “Starry, Starry Night,” you know, his swirly sky. And that’s what it is — it’s got this swirly sky in it.

And then there’s times when I’ve felt that Leonardo was with me, because I’ll paint something and it’ll look like the most incredible piece of velvet or silk. And I’ve done it with no thought. It just turned up on the canvas.

PCC:
So you just had to be open, I guess.

HASLAM:
I’m open, completely open. Completely open without any thoughts… other than good stuff. And I love it. I just love it And I can paint songs now. If you go to my website, you can see, you go to anniehaslam.com, and you can go to Original Paintings, Miniature Paintings, Painting Commissions, and one says Painted Songs — and you can see some of the songs I’ve painted.

PCC:
Renaissance — so many personnel changes over the years, yet there’s always great music. How do you meet the challenge of keeping the music at its peak levels, regardless of the lineups?

HASLAM:
I don’t know, it’s just always been a natural progression. There’s never been anything forced in it. The people who have joined the band have just been the right people at the right time that just absolutely adore the music. And we all get on so well. When we played in Brazil, we were flying every day. We were getting hardly any sleep. But the energy between us, off stage, as well as on stage, was so magical, that we overcame all the stress and had all the energy we needed and the shows were just phenomenal.

PCC:
This is probably an impossible question, but is there one Renaissance album that stands out as a particular source of pride?

HASLAM:
Oh, gosh. I can’t choose one. It’s difficult, because they’re all magnificent in their own way. Like “Scheherazade,” is like, “Oh, God!” And “Novella.” My gosh, it’s very difficult. I can never do that, because I’ve got so many favorites… but I think “Scheherazade” is a masterpiece, that’s for sure. The song of “Scheherazade,” the 25-minute suite, is brilliant.

PCC:
Looking back on the decades with Renaissance, any regrets?

HASLAM:
Regrets? No, not one. If I had any regrets, I probably wouldn’t be sitting here right now talking to you. And I might not be painting. If anything had changed, I wouldn’t have met my boyfriend. I was on my own for many years. I wasn’t looking for anybody. And then all of a sudden, we met and it’s completely out of the blue. And I probably would never have met him. And I probably wouldn’t have started painting. I wouldn’t have known I was a painter.

PCC:
Is your boyfriend involved in the arts?

HASLAM:
No, actually, he’s a retired pilot. He’s an interesting guy. From Texas. And it has to be a special person that can deal with somebody like me, because there are so many things I’ve got to do and sometimes I can’t give him completely 100 percent, because I’ve go so many other things I’m doing. But I make sure that I do give him time, because I want to, because I love him. But it’s not like a normal life. I haven’t had a normal life, since I started singing, really.

I don’t know if I ever really had a normal life. Even when I was a little girl, I put a pearl bead down my ear, when I was five. I put an earring on my ear, one of my mum’s. I was playing dress-up. And I clipped it on. And then I couldn’t find the other one, so I found this little pearl and I held it up to my ear and it slipped in. And it was a small one. It got stuck. My brother said he saw me do it and he couldn’t get to me in time. It was like he was running through water.

And I ended up going to the hospital and the doctors pushed it down even further. And so they tried to get it out and when they finally got it out, they did an emergency mastoid operation on me to get it out. But because it wasn’t a real pearl, it had this shell over it, this kind of stuff, and that rotted my eardrum inside over the next 15, 16 years, to when I was older and I was having problems and the doctor looked into my ear and said, “Oh, my God, you’ve got no eardrum here! And the bones in your ear are in a little pile at the bottom of your ear.”

So that started off, when I was five. And then when I was six, my eye crossed. I was making a funny face. And I say that to everybody — “If your child is making a face and crossing their eyes, smack them on the leg. Don’t let them do it” — because that was awful. I had to have an operation to put it straight. And then I had to wear glasses with a patch over one eye. And then I used to get called “Specky Four-Eyes” at school. And it was kind of a slightly unhappy childhood, in a way. Then I got thrown out of the school choir for singing too loud. Do you know what I mean? [Laughs] It wasn’t like I was a normal little girl, really.

PCC:
And yet you overcame everything.

HASLAM:
Oh, God, I sang in the Royal Albert Hall. And Carnegie Hall. I’ve done a solo album with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. I’ve worked with some incredible musicians. And Renaissance is still alive with these amazing musicians that we have, that are fantastic. The thing is, they love the music so much, that’s why it sounds so wonderful, when you hear it. When we were just five of us, we only had John Tout playing the piano and a synthesizer and he had another clavinet kind of thing, which is another keyboard. And that was it. And I used to do all the vocalese things. Anything that he couldn’t do live, I would sing, like a vocalese. But once we formed the band in 2009, one of the things we wanted to do was to bring in a second keyboard player. And of course the technology now is so advanced, it sounds like a full orchestra, even when it’s just the band. It’s amazing.

PCC:
Having accomplished so much, are there still dreams you hope to fulfill?

HASLAM:
Gosh, well, I’d like to play Milan, because of Leonardo da Vinci. This is a possibility that we’re talking about right now, which would be next spring.

God willing that something happens with the planet to make things better and for people to not be so afraid. We played in Israel, actually, and a lot of people said, “Don’t go there. It’s too dangerous.” But you can’t stop your life for fear of other people. And bands still carry on playing and traveling, because that’s what we do. We’re here to entertain. That’s what it’s all about.

I think I would like to take this band to the Albert Hall next year. I’m visualizing — I’m very good at visualizing and things happening. For some reason, it’s been working out really well [laughs]. I knew that we’d go to Brazil one day with the band — the first time ever with the band, in May. And that was just phenomenal. And yeah, if I put an intention out there and it comes from my heart and soul, and I just believe it when I say it, it usually happens. So we’ll see. I’m 70 this year. I was 70 in June. And I can’t believe it, that I’m still doing it! [Laughs] But if my voice still sounds good…

People love to come and see the band play live. It’s a great experience. And there’s nothing like hearing music live and a voice live. So as long as I can do a great job… And of course, you emit your own energy, as well as the music. It’s as important to me for an audience to go home feeling warmth and laughter, because I always do something that’s silly on stage. It’s just me. Not intentionally, like “Oh, I’m going to say this tonight.” Something will happen that will be funny and then we have a good time with it. And then everybody’s elated, when they’re leaving. They take more than the music away with them. And I think we need that now. We need so much more.

PCC:
You’re still based in Bucks County, Pennsylvania [her former husband resided there]?

HASLAM:
Yeah, I am. I love it here.

PCC:
Looking back on your career, what has been the most rewarding aspect of your life in music?

HASLAM:
Oh, gosh. Well, I think the most rewarding is the people that have been in the band. The most rewarding is being able to talk to you right now and still be singing. If anybody had asked me, when I was 24 and I joined the band, “Do you think you’ll still be doing this when you’re 70?”… But I was a different person then. I was young.

But playing with the different orchestras and just being part of music that there’s nothing like it. It just stands out on its own. It’s like Yes. There’s nobody like Yes. There’s a lot of people that try to sound like Yes. But there’s nobody like Yes. There are certain bands, where it’s just like, “Wow!” You just go down in history, really — not that that’s why I’m saying it. But I’m just proud to be part of it — Betty’s words and Michael’s songs. And Jon Camp’s songs. And Terry Sullivan wrote this gorgeous song called “Forever Changing” after his father had passed away. And we all helped with arrangements. And of course, John Tout was brilliant with his arrangements. And he wrote some things, as well, for piano, that were just stunning. And it was just everybody, all of us together. And to still be performing now is wonderful.

And to have people like Wayne Forte, our agent, because an agent’s job, I don’t know how they do it, because the rooting they have to do to put a tour together and make it work and make it profitable these days, because everybody wants to tour now, because that’s the best way for them to make money — with the merchandise, things like. John Scher, who was a manager who just believed in the band. And he’s a brilliant promoter. And he’s the one who’s putting us in the New York Town Hall, which is where I wanted to play, after I’d been there on my own with John Edward, just opening up for him, singing “Some of the Angels,” thinking, “Oh, my God, I wish we could play here one day.” This was before the band got back together again. And now it’s happening. Well, that’s because of John Scher putting his trust into it. And it’s going to be a wonderful experience. I’m so excited. There’s so much that I’m thankful for.

And I wish my brother was still alive and I could have helped him. I think if there’s a regret, that’s my regret is that I wish that I would have known or would have been a bit older at that time and would have had some influence and could have helped him. I probably could have helped him now or maybe 10, 15 years ago, whatever. Twenty years ago maybe. Because I would have known people in the business. I would have done something about it. But I didn’t really know some of the details. And he had kind of become, not bitter, but kind of very sad inside, because of it. And so I think that’s my regret. I’ve never really thought of that before. But after sitting, talking about so many things, that’s one of the big regrets, is that I couldn’t have helped my brother Michael, because I watched him, I was so proud of him. It was like amazing — I’ve got a brother who’s a singer, Michael. God, what a voice!

PCC:
Well, you’ve made a lot of people aware of him and his talent by talking about him. And people can now find some of his music on YouTube… You have so many wonderful stories. It’s been such a remarkable life. When are you doing the autobiography?

HASLAM:
Well, you know what? If I wrote a book, I would have to put every detail in there and it would hurt so many people. And I’m not into doing that. You’d have to put all the bad stuff, as well as the good stuff. Otherwise you’re not being honest. And if I was being honest, why would I dig up things from my past, from somebody else’s past, and cause somebody else to be upset? I don’t want to do that.

And I want to move forward. I don’t have the time. I’ve got painting to do. I’ve got singing to do. I’ve got writing to do. New songs. Whatever we’re going to do. Somebody just commissioned me to paint the song “Scheherazade,” the suite. And the song has nine parts to it, but I’m doing it on six canvases and I’m doing the story of “Scheherazade,” on these different canvases — one follows on into the other.

PCC:
So there’s always a new challenge.

HASLAM:
Yeah, it’s wonderful! My gosh. And I’m painting violins. It looks like a Flying V. It’s called the Viper. This guy called Mark Wood, who was in Trans-Siberian Orchestra [who created the Viper, a solid body electric violin, whose shape is based on Gibson’s Flying V guitar and is available in 4,5, 6 or 7-string versions]. And he’s a brilliant, brilliant violin player. And he’s got his own company and they make these violins. And they do custom ones by me. And I think I’ve done about, gosh, at least 10 or 12, maybe more. I’m just starting one now. And then they’re sending me another one… Oh, gosh, there’s so much to do! [Laughs]

But I love doing it all. I’m so blessed. I’m so thankful. When I finally do stop singing… I’ve got a lot to thank my mother for… and my father, they were wonderful. We lived in a two-up, two-down, outside toilet, terraced house in Bolton in Lancashire. Working-class family. And they sent me to elocution lessons, when I was about 10. I thought, “Why are they doing this?” They couldn’t afford it. But they must have known. Something must have been triggered, so that they knew, because my childhood voice, I spoke in a very broad Lancashire accent. And I had elocution lessons, so that I could speak correctly.

And when people hear me singing now on an album or wherever, they can hear every word I sing. And that’s because they sent me to elocution lessons. So God, they were amazing. Then they let me go to art school, when I should really have gone out to work, to bring in some money. They let me go to art school instead. And I didn’t start painting then, but the seed was planted.

PCC:
They must have realized that you had some sort of artistic destiny.

HASLAM:
Oh, yeah. And they encouraged my brother Michael. My brother Keith [also known as Kamsahanta Das] is a very interesting man, very clever. He’s a Hare Krishna devotee and has been for many, many, many, many years. When he first went into it, I really didn’t have time for it. I didn’t understand it. As I got older, I understand it. I believe it. I believe a lot of things. It’s one belief though. His belief is Krishna and when you believe in Krishna, there’s nothing other than Krishna.

I believe in it. But I believe in many other things, as well. And he’s a brilliant artist, a phenomenal artist. But he uses it within the religion. He went to South Africa. They built a Krishna temple in South Africa and he helped design it. He’s a phenomenal artist. And he can sing, as well. I heard him sing when I was younger. But his main thing was he was an artist and he became a graphic designer up in Bolton and then moved to Canada and then he was there for many years. And then joined the Krishna people and it was all over the world.

PCC:
Well, you’re such a positive, inspirational force and we’re grateful that you’ve shared your talents with people all over the world.

HASLAM:
Thank you so much.

UPCOMING DATES
Renaissance 2017 Symphonic Journey Tour

Oct. 26 - Ridgefield Playhous - Ridgefield CT (with chamber orchestra)

Oct. 27 - Keswick Theatre - Glenside, PA (with chamber orchestra)

Oct. 28 - The Town Hall - New York, NY (with chamber orchestra)

Oct. 29 - The Egg- Albany - NY (with chamber orchestra)

Nov. 01 - City Winery - Boston, MA

Nov. 02 - Rams Head On Stage - Annapolis, MD

Nov. 03 - The Oaks Theater - Oakmont, PA

For more about this amazing artist, visit www.anniehaslam.com or renaissancetouring.com.