Hayley reaches for a higher orbit

By REBECCA BARRY

Gussied-up VIPs fill the art gallery. A record company boss, a charity rep and a dame make superlative-laden speeches. The object of their praise isn't even old enough to indulge in the champagne.

Not that it matters. Singing is the perfect way for 17-year-old Hayley Westenra to celebrate her second album and international recording debut, Pure, which a middle-aged woman in the front row confirms by dabbing her eyes.

After four months in London, working with Beatles producer Sir George Martin and his son Giles, Westenra is home for a break - and this showcase - before jetting off again. Now that she's a priority artist for classical music empire Decca Records, New Zealand is home for a few precious weeks at a time.

"I thought, 'When I get back I'll do heaps of shopping because everything will be so much cheaper," she says. "But I haven't, actually. I've just been catching up on things, like spending time with my friends, tidying my room - well, attempting to tidy my room."

We are back at Westenra's plush hotel, and the room she shares with her mother is strewn with clothes. A makeup kit big enough to prep an entire film cast lies open on the table next to a half-eaten biscuit. The room smells of hairspray.

While mum and makeup artist chat on the vast harbour-view deck, Westenra is keen to discuss the highlight of her travels, nonchalantly describing her first meeting with Sir George.

"Everyone was like, 'What are you going to say?' And I was like, 'Oh, I don't know, how about, 'How are you?"

"I have heard a bit of the Beatles. At school we'd sing Yellow Submarine. But it's a little bit before my time.

"Do you know Andrea Bocelli?" she says, a little more enthusiastically.

Not personally, I say. You?

"Yeah, I met him! I was singing at the Classical Brit Awards in Royal Albert Hall. I was aware that he was going to be singing and I was just like, 'Wow', but I didn't think it would be possible to meet him. Then he walked into the room and I was like, 'Oh, my gosh!' and I tried not to look, too, like starstruck. I was just in complete awe."

Westenra, who finds herself in a similar position now, says she feels privileged that young fans look up to her, as well as the older set who made her debut album the fastest selling in New Zealand. She's excited by the responsibility her new role as Unicef ambassador brings.

But a price comes with the "superstar" tag Universal Records head Adam Holt lavished on her at the showcase.

"People expect you'll be really stuck up and all that. And that's hard, because I know I'm not. That's hard when they don't know the truth."

Truth is, Westenra is a self-described, normal down-to-earth teenager, and when she's not listening to her favourite Celtic musicians, she's singing along to Daniel Bedingfield, Vanessa Carlton, Anika Moa, Destiny's Child and Christina Aguilera.

"I'm disorganised. I'm not, like, a huge party girl but I always like to have a good time. I can be shy but I also can be quite confident. I don't try and be anyone else or disguise any part of me. I don't see anything wrong with letting people know who you are. I prefer people to know the real me as opposed to this image of me, you know what I mean?"

She laughs when I broach the inevitable subject of classical-turned-raunchy pop artist Charlotte Church, with whom she is constantly compared. She met the singer in Cardiff, says she was "really lovely" and while she insists she is not going to sex up her image as the English singer has done, she isn't ruling out an image overhaul in the distant future.

"I guess classical music's not perceived as cool. She's probably just been mixing with her peers and that's the sort of music they listen to," she says of her contemporary's foray into dance music. "Maybe she just wants to be accepted."

Publicity, good or bad, is the other price of fame. Recently her agent, Gray Bartlett, fired up in the press, claiming musicians such as Westenra missed out on music awards in favour of "politically correct" artists.

Westenra distanced herself from the comment. Bartlett responded by calling her concerns "pathetic" and referring to her as an "item to be produced".

"I think the newspaper slightly twisted what I was saying," she explains. "They said that I lashed out at Gray Bartlett. In fact, it was just an interview to do with my album and they asked me, 'What do you think?' and I was like, 'I got a bit of a shock'. He probably misinterpreted it and thought that I was angry with him when in fact I was a bit surprised my photo was attached to the article. We called him up and cleared all that."

Westenra accepts she is an item to be produced, but says she had significant input into this album, more so than her first.

"As long as I'm doing what I want to do, I'm carrying on singing the material that I like and I'm not being exploited - you know, lots of people think that I might be - I don't mind. The people I'm working with respect my opinion and they're just really lovely."

She agreed with her record company that she should aim to reach a wide audience, so she included a range of styles on the album, from the operatic In Trutina to the theatrical Kate Bush number, Wuthering Heights, Sir George's pop composition Beat of Your Heart, and the Maori song Hine E Hine.

"I want to leave as many doors open as possible because at the moment I'm enjoying all these different styles of music. I want to include everything. I don't think I would have a problem if I wanted to go back to classical music. I'm sure they'd let me go back," she giggles. "Hopefully they'd accept me again. I haven't totally turned my back on classical music."

The fact her voice has deepened slightly as she has got older helped with the poppier songs, she says. "It's a bit richer. My range has broadened as well. Hopefully it will just get richer and my range will extend even more."

No doubt, too, will her horizons.

On Release

* Who: Hayley Westenra

* What: The album 'Pure'

* When: Released tomorrow