The best singer nobody has heard of

Okay, so in a recent post (see below), I was ripping on Amy Crackhouse Winehouse specifically, but in general, on the fact that about 98.792% of music nowadays really sucks, IMHO.

Well, I decided I’d sing the praises (pardon the pun) of a young woman who has an exquisite voice.

Her name is Hayley Westenra.  She is only 20 years old but she has already been performing professionally for more than 8 years.

Her first few albums were huge hits in her native New Zealand, but the Decca Records release of Pure in 2003 made her an international star.

She was featured on the “Mulan II” soundtrack, she performed for the Queen of England, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, and President Bush, and she won a Japanese Grammy in 2004 for her rendition of “Amazing Grace” and for her album Pure.

Okay, okay, enough of the lovefest.  Truth be told, I don’t particularly care for her style of music.  It’s kind of opera-meets-Celtic-meets-New-Agey-crap, and that’s just not my thing–especially the New Agey crap part.  At first listen, I thought, who is this, Enya’s little sister?!!  Honestly, I probably never would have known anything about this girl had I not received the Wii video game Endless Ocean from my sister for my birthday.  Young Miss Westenra’s vocal talents are featured throughout this game.  Between the relaxed feel of the game itself and the mesmerizing effect her voice has, I absolutely love playing the game.  I could go on and on about the game, but I’m still talking about Miss Westenra’s voice. Her single “Prayer” is the opening-credits song (some of it can be heard if you click the link above and do the “Launch the Site” tour… it’s worth the listen, I assure you.) and can also be played throughout the game, as can her fantastic version of “Amazing Grace” and 6 or 7 other songs by her.  Simply beautiful.

I’ve gone so far as to download all of the music that is featured in the video game from iTunes.  I’m not turning over a new musical leaf by ANY stretch of the imagination- I am NOT going to become one of those New Age fr people… I still like my Rush, my Van Halen, my cheesy 80’s music, my lame 70’s music, and my “oldies” way, WAY too much to give it all up for twinky stuff like this.  But I can also appreciate talented musicians, no matter what their musical genre, and this little girl is a VERY talented musician.

Amy Crackhouse Winehouse, on the other hand, is not.