The list of pop and rock artists who have performed multiple “farewell” shows is disconcertingly long.
It includes the Band (who gigged sans Robbie Robertson after The Last Waltz), Cher, Cream, the Judds, the Grateful Dead, Barbra Streisand and Kiss.
Add Nana Mouskouri to that list. On Sunday night, the famously bespectacled Greek songbird performs at the University Centre Farquhar Auditorium.
Mouskouri embarked on a much-ballyhooed farewell tour that finished in 2008. So when I phoned her in Paris before she jetted out for her Canadian tour, my first question was: “Hey Nana — what gives?”
The singer, who’ll turn 80 on Oct. 13, said she did intend to say “so-long” for good the last time around. But when the opportunity of touring again presented itself, it was an offer Mouskouri couldn’t refuse.
“I missed to go on stage. Instead of staying [home in Geneva] all this year and next year until October, why don’t I go to celebrate the birthday?” she said.
This time Nana is hedging her bets; she’s not calling this one a farewell tour. Instead, she has dubbed her year-long round of global concerts her “Happy Birthday Tour.”
Mouskouri might be the biggest MOR superstar in the world, with record sales topping 350 million. In 2004, Mercury France released a 34-CD box set, Integrate, with 674 songs. That’s a whole lotta Nana.
Still, with all due respect, she’s no spring chicken. So on Sunday night, what will be in store for the faithful?
The good news is that Mouskouri’s voice is well preserved. So says Nana. Although her timbre has matured, she still sings in the same keys and hits all the notes. That’s because the singer has taken care of herself over the years, avoiding pop star temptations.
A longtime practice of drinking lemon tea with honey helped, although Mouskouri, being diabetic, must now ration herself.
Her concert will be a mix of golden oldies and newer material. Performing in Edmonton this week, Mouskouri — backed by a four-piece band — sang Both Sides Now, La Vie L’Amour La Mort, Somewhere Over the Rainbow, Smoke Gets in Your Eyes and Roses Love Sunshine.
Lest you think Nana is stuck in the ’60s, she promises to pull out something au courant: Amy Winehouse’s Love Is a Losing Game. Most of us remember the late Winehouse as the gifted diva who indulged in potty-mouth rants and industrial-strength boozing and drugging (she died of alcohol poisoning in 2011).
Although they never met, it transpires Mouskouri is a Winehouse fan who attended multiple concerts.
“Amy was my favourite at the beginning when she came out. I was really thrilled with her. She reminded me, in her own way, of Billie Holiday,” Mouskouri said. “It’s very sad to see girls like Amy Winehouse or Whitney Houston die this way. It’s so sad because they had so much to do and give, as well.”
Mouskouri’s daughter, Lénou, will join her on stage in Victoria. A singer in her own right, Lénou will do a duet with her mom as well as performing solo.
Nana first got the idea for singing with her daughter after watching Judy Garland performing with Liza Minnelli in London back in the 1960s. “When I saw Liza and her mother, I dreamed of that picture,” she said.
An interview with Mouskouri (we’ve talked three other times) is always uplifting. That’s because Nana really likes to accentuate the positive.
Quizzed about unfulfilled ambitions, she replied: “I only ever wanted to sing. I went off like little Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz.”
Also, Mouskouri told me the whole point of her career has been to “find out if love and peace exist” (which hands-down beats “fame, fortune and a Bentley Mulsanne”).
Whether they’re in the farewell category or not, there’s something endearing about seniors who keep touring. Last week’s geezer gigs by ZZ Top and Yes in Victoria are cases in point.
And there’s always the chance of a thrilling surprise. Don’t forget, when Cream had their much-vaunted reunion in 2005 at the Royal Albert Hall, they performed Pressed Rat and Warthog live for the very first time.
