KEY POINTS:
The man who discovered popera princess Hayley Westenra has hit back at Dame Kiri Te Kanawa's "holier than thou" swipe at his star.
The opera singer yesterday refused to share the stage with Westenra at last night's postponed Starlight Symphony concert in the Auckland Domain and then described her a "fake singer".
But Gray Bartlett, who put Westenra on the musical map rubbished the criticism, pointing to the millions of CDs Westenra had sold.
"I can tell you now... Kiri and Pavarotti and those international singers, if it wasn't for their compilation CDs they'd be lucky to sell in the hundreds. Now that's the truth," he said.
Westenra's father didn't want to be drawn into the spat, but said the two singers' styles were "like apples and oranges" and it was wrong to compare them.
Bartlett, however, was more to the point.
Asked if Dame Kiri was suffering from "a bit of the old green-eyed monster", he said: "I think it's a bit of that, plus I think it's this whole opera thing... and that holier than thou attitude. It [opera] still retains a snob factor."
Bartlett believed Dame Kiri's comments were the result of professional jealousy and she felt threatened.
His advice to her was: "She looks great, she's done well, just get a life."
