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Amy
Sky and Olivia Newton-John Get Spiritual
April
26, 2007 – Amy
Sky and Olivia Newton-John felt like kindred
spirits on first meeting in 1987 in L.A. At
the time, Sky was co-writing some tunes on
Olivia’s “The Rumour” album
but like most things life got in their way
and they drifted apart. “We both had
young children and I moved back to Canada
and she spent a lot of time in Australia and
we sort of lost touch. We would send Christmas
cards and share the occasional phone call
but we actually didn't really connect again
until she came and played in Toronto two,
three years ago,” says Sky. That reconnection
resulted in a collaborative effort on Olivia’s
new “Grace and Gratitude” album.
Sky, who’s nominated for three Canadian
Smooth Jazz Awards told Smooth Jazz Now
that the album is a spiritual journey with
each song based on one of the seven Chakras.
She say’s the response has been overwhelming,
“People are using the CD in cancer treatment
wellness centres where people can take an
hour and meditate, think and reflect.”
Sky’s goal in music has always been to
pay it forward, “As a teen when you're
in those impressionable years I would listen
to my favourite writers such as Joni
Mitchell, James
Taylor and Neil Young. I felt like they
had opened my journal and they were talking
about my life and I knew they hadn't but I
was so grateful to have had someone shed insight
on my own journey. So, that became my motivation
to want to write songs.” Sky adds that
her goal was never to write, talk or sing
about herself, “I always saw myself as
a vessel for reflecting back whatever insights
I had learned to the listener and when someone
like you says that I've done that, I feel
very blessed.” Amy Sky who will perform
with husband Marc
Jordan tomorrow night at the Canadian
Smooth Jazz Awards is nominated for “Female
Vocalist,” “Album of the Year”
for the best of album “Life Lessons”
and “Best Original Composition,”
a co-write with Eddie Schwartz – “Everything
Love Is.” Jordan is nominated for “Male
Vocalist of the Year.” Read
our interview with Amy Sky - below. –
by John
Beaudin
John
Beaudin - How
far back do you and Olivia (Newton-John) go?
Amy
Sky
- Well, we go back quite a ways. We actually
first worked together in 1987 when Marc and
I were living in LA and Olivia was working on
an album called "The Rumour" and we
wrote together for that record. We really connected
and enjoyed each other but a couple of years
later we both had young children and I moved
back to Canada and she spent a lot of time in
Australia and we sort of lost touch. We would
send Christmas cards and share the occasional
phone call but we actually didn't really connect
again until she came and played in Toronto two,
three years ago. So, that's when we decided
to get together again and write so it kicked
off a renewed creative collaboration. "Grace
and Gratitude" is our second recording
project together and now I'm in the middle of
producing and recording a Christmas record for
her. It is like spirituality is like a friend
who you lose touch with, but like a friend when
you pick up the phone it's like the other person
never went away. It's always the same with great
friendships because they are based on a very
deep connection. So, like spirituality, it's
always there whether you choose to pay attention
to it.
John
- It has to be gratifying when people come up
to you and say that your music has made a big
difference in their lives?
Amy
- You know, that's exactly why I do it because
I feel like I'm kind of paying it forward.
I first started listening to music when I
was five years old. As a teen, when you're
in those impressionable years I would listen
to my favourite writers such as Joni Mitchell,
James Taylor and Neil Young. I felt like they
had opened my journal and they were talking
about my life and I knew they hadn't but I
was so grateful to have had someone shed insight
on my own journey. So, that became my motivation
to want to write songs. I would never have
gotten into the business to have the spotlight
on me and tell everybody about me and let's
talk about my problems. I always saw myself
as a vessel for reflecting back whatever insights
I had learned to the listener and when someone
like you says that I've done that I feel very
blessed. It's funny because like I said I'm
producing this Christmas record for Olivia
and I wanted to reference some of the arrangements
I had done on "Grace and Gratitude"
and I hadn't listened to it in months so I
put it in my car last night and I was so removed
from it and I'd forgotten what we had created
so I because like a listener and I was proud
and I thought I so need to hear this. I need
to hear these words, I need to get into this
contemplative state and let go of the stress
of the day, to feel grateful because gratitude
is the key lesson in that record. I think
it's great to have a spiritual practice that
you practice on a daily basis but who of us
really makes the time for that, so art can
be a wonderful conduit to that.
John
- I also enjoyed the instrumental pieces in
between the songs, they also spoke to me.
I like what Ron Korb did on there but since
I don't have my reading glasses I couldn't
see who wrote those. (Laughing) The writing
is too small on the album jacket. Who wrote
those pieces?
Amy
- I wrote three of them, one I wrote with my
husband Marc, Greg Johnston who helped me with
the record wrote three and Stephan Makio and
I created one together.
John
- What a great idea that was to have instrumental
in between each of Olivia's vocals.
Amy
- That was Olivia's idea. She wanted continuous
music. It was so much fun for me as a Pop
writer to actually create something instrumental.
That's actually where I come from, I have
a Classical background. It was really a thrill
to be able to do that. We are getting emails
from all over the place and one woman who
works at a retreat in Arizona is using that
CD. She uses the instrumental part for meditation
and does movement during the vocal parts so
it's a combination yoga meditation class.
Other people are using the CD in cancer treatment
wellness centres where people can take an
hour and meditate, think and reflect. With
the lyrics on the CD, we didn't want to make
it too overwhelming for anyone who doesn't
understand the Chakras, but you must in your
spiritual work?
John
- Well, I didn't from just being into spirituality
but I'm a Reiki Master, so yes, I'm there.
Amy
- So, obviously you know the Chakras. We took
the work of Caroline Myse who wrote the book
"Anatomy of the Spirit" and in her
book she outlines very clearly that each Chakra,
each of the seven levels of energy of the body
which she also correlates with the Kabala, with
Christianity and with Zen Buddhism, each has
a sacred truth and we took the sacred truth
of each Chakra and that's the basis for the
lyrics in each one of our songs. So, it's a
sequence through the Chakras of the body. If
you relate to your wellness on that level it's
a great string around your finger. The song
"Pearls On A Chain" is Chakra one
talking about how we are all connected and the
issues about your family and with your culture
of origin and so on through the seventh chakra
which some people consider to be the ultimate
sacred truth which is live in the present moment
and so our song on that is called "The
Power of Now." Olivia is also a champion
of breast health and she sells this thing called
"The Live Kit" where you check your
breast for lumps every month, well that's a
physical check-up. To us, "Grace and Gratitude"
is a like a spiritual check-up and you check
in with each song as it relates to one of the
seven levels of energy in your body. You can
reflect on it to see how you are doing. You
can tell where your issues are and remember
it changes since this month you could be dealing
with Chakra three issues or Chakra six and Chakra
six is my favourite since it deals with intuition
and I have learnt so much on how to connect
with intuition through this project. Our teachers
are right in our head and they are right around
us, you just have to pay attention.
John
- Interestingly, going through my life different
modalities come in at different times and the
tools that I use at one time are not necessarily
the tools I use at another time and (laughing)
sometimes I forget the tools. When did this
conscious spiritual journey start for you?
Amy
- You know what I have to say, it's always
been part of who I am as a person and it's
always been part of my art. I was raised in
a pretty observant Jewish household so morality
and world consciously and making the world
a better place, helping causes was all a part
of my early life. In my teens, however, I
started to think that organized religion was
not necessarily giving me all that I needed
so I just began reading and exploring everything
from transcendental meditation to yoga to
meditation, as you say all the different modalities.
All the portals, your physical, your mental,
your creative and your spiritual. We have
a line on "Grace and Gratitude"
"A thousand names, a thousand roads,
all lead to one simple truth" and it's
the same with all of these things. I'm sure
all the things that you are offering your
audience on radio and on your website all
the different modalities, they all come down
to the simple truth which is that we all have
a higher self and by accessing that higher
self by making ourselves better people we
perfect the world. Of course, then you have
to go out and interact with the world. The
universe didn't create just one flower, there
are thousands and a hundred thousand different
kinds of plants and they all have a function.
We all interact with the universe in our own
unique way. I just read a book that you would
probably love that's called, "Eat, Pray,
Love."
John
- I haven't heard of it.
Amy
- It's wonderful and it's by Elizabeth Gilbert
and it's about a woman who goes to find herself
by spending a third of a year in Italy, a
third of a year in India and a third of a
year in Indonesia and what the message is,
Italy is where she explores her physical self,
India her spiritual self and in Indonesia
she tries to integrate the two. It's very
funny, it's wonderful. It's an easy read.
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