Anthony meets Charlene
Hey lady, you lady… it’s time you caught up with legendary pop singer Charlene.
She has been to paradise, she has been undressed by kings, and she has even sipped champagne on a yacht, but until today she had never been to ME! …
It would be hard to find any self-respecting gay over 40 who has not sung along to the lyrics of the iconic “I’ve Never Been to Me” but one may be forgiven for not knowing who exactly the woman behind the deeply touching song was.
I met with Charlene, the voice and the beautiful soul who has crooned us all through many a breakup… or one too many cocktails as we reach deep into our lovelorn souls. The lyrics, each one of them depicting a story of a person who has had everything, all of the trappings that most would yearn for, looking upon a simple housewife with deep regrets wishing she had found true love and domestic simplicity.
Interestingly, Charlene explained to me that actually the song is the reverse, it is a glimpse into the mind of a bored housewife wishing she had lived a glamorous life. “The song is full of metaphors; it is actually a lady wishing she had lived,” Charlene explained.
Chatting with her I could not help but fall a little in love with the exuberant personality in front of me on the screen. Her wild blonde hair of today is a stark contrast to her previously preened brunette 1980s style. Charlene exudes warmth, hope, positivity, and buckets of charm. We talked about her career, and I was saddened but not surprised to hear of her breakdown as the fame and attention whisked away as quickly as it came following the flop of her second song “Used to Be.”
“I was so depressed, it is such a lonely journey, and I had a nervous breakdown,” she reveals, but testament to her obvious strength and determination, she pulled herself back out of the darkness. “I just talked myself through it, I talked to my dogs, and I talked to my sweet husband who was with me through it all.”
With a return to music and possible theatre show upcoming, Charlene has released a dance single, “Destiny,” available now on Spotify and Amazon.
