An bit from the BBC News webiste on Feist and the iPod
Link
Talking Shop: Feist
Canadian singer-songwriter Leslie Feist is best known for her hit single 1234, which was used on a TV commercial for the Apple iPod Nano.
Leslie Feist
Feist has vowed not to re-release her first album
The 32-year-old has won four Juno awards, was nominated for four Grammy Awards this year and will compete in the best international female artist category at the Brit Awards later this month.
The star has just released her second single in the UK, which is called My Moon My Man.
When did you start singing?
When I was about six in choirs. I bought my first bass and I got a four track and started a band with girls at high school, so from there it's been many years.
Singing in choirs is a very safe way to begin in the sense that you're not thinking about yourself as much as hearing the music from the inside and understanding harmony from within.
Did you know you wanted to pursue a musical career from an early age?
I never had any presumption that I'd be able to do it for a career and didn't know anybody in my young life that made music and put food on their table doing it. I had always thought I would go to university and do something else, I didn't know what, but I didn't assume that I could do this as a job.
Leslie Feist
Feist performed at the Grammys this year
How did it feel when you heard you had been nominated for four Grammy awards and a Brit award?
Very surprising, of course it's very nice to have a nod from the outsiders. I had no idea I was that much on the radar because I just live on tour.
Unfortunately you missed out on winning a Grammy, what had you thought your chances were?
Of course it would have been nice, but I have taken quite a few Juno awards home over the years. They are the Canadian equivalent of the Grammys. Really those prizes are for the parents.
The Grammys are different, though, it's sort of like having a PhD, you carry those three letters around with you for the rest of your life.
How did lending your 1234 track to the iPod Nano advert boost your musical career?
I felt a definite shift, it seemed to peak a lot of curiosity which luckily led back to an album and video that I believe in. It just shows you the power of that kind of thing, as opposed to some preconceived marketing ploy.
It was just something I'd already made, it already existed and someone reputable put it on the television. And the response to it was very healthy, it felt natural, and really it was not a hard decision to make.
I was a little naive as to the impact it would have because I really didn't have any idea it would be like that. But it did me nothing but favours because I've continued doing what I do, but with so many new open ears from so many more people than there were before.
Did you have any idea that the advert would do so much?
Leslie Feist
I had no idea I was that much on the radar because I just live on tour
Feist
If anything there was fear. I had total naivety, I didn't project what it could be. I just thought that I made this video with my friends and I really loved it.
Once it came out and the response happened, that's when a little bit of apprehension kicked in. I thought, in a way it's my worst nightmare to have people at the concert twiddling their thumbs waiting for the one song that they recognise.
But any of those fears were quickly assuaged when I realised that would only happen if I stopped dead in my tracks and didn't do another thing in my life - then it would become my epitaph. That's not the case, it was so long ago that I even forget it really happened.
Would you do something like that again?
I can't say yes, I can't say no. I would be hesitant to. But I've said no to probably 200 things over the last five years, and I've really only said yes to like three.
My Man My Moon by Feist is currently on release in the UK. The musician talked to BBC News entertainment reporter Fiona Pryor.
Link
Talking Shop: Feist
Canadian singer-songwriter Leslie Feist is best known for her hit single 1234, which was used on a TV commercial for the Apple iPod Nano.
Leslie Feist
Feist has vowed not to re-release her first album
The 32-year-old has won four Juno awards, was nominated for four Grammy Awards this year and will compete in the best international female artist category at the Brit Awards later this month.
The star has just released her second single in the UK, which is called My Moon My Man.
When did you start singing?
When I was about six in choirs. I bought my first bass and I got a four track and started a band with girls at high school, so from there it's been many years.
Singing in choirs is a very safe way to begin in the sense that you're not thinking about yourself as much as hearing the music from the inside and understanding harmony from within.
Did you know you wanted to pursue a musical career from an early age?
I never had any presumption that I'd be able to do it for a career and didn't know anybody in my young life that made music and put food on their table doing it. I had always thought I would go to university and do something else, I didn't know what, but I didn't assume that I could do this as a job.
Leslie Feist
Feist performed at the Grammys this year
How did it feel when you heard you had been nominated for four Grammy awards and a Brit award?
Very surprising, of course it's very nice to have a nod from the outsiders. I had no idea I was that much on the radar because I just live on tour.
Unfortunately you missed out on winning a Grammy, what had you thought your chances were?
Of course it would have been nice, but I have taken quite a few Juno awards home over the years. They are the Canadian equivalent of the Grammys. Really those prizes are for the parents.
The Grammys are different, though, it's sort of like having a PhD, you carry those three letters around with you for the rest of your life.
How did lending your 1234 track to the iPod Nano advert boost your musical career?
I felt a definite shift, it seemed to peak a lot of curiosity which luckily led back to an album and video that I believe in. It just shows you the power of that kind of thing, as opposed to some preconceived marketing ploy.
It was just something I'd already made, it already existed and someone reputable put it on the television. And the response to it was very healthy, it felt natural, and really it was not a hard decision to make.
I was a little naive as to the impact it would have because I really didn't have any idea it would be like that. But it did me nothing but favours because I've continued doing what I do, but with so many new open ears from so many more people than there were before.
Did you have any idea that the advert would do so much?
Leslie Feist
I had no idea I was that much on the radar because I just live on tour
Feist
If anything there was fear. I had total naivety, I didn't project what it could be. I just thought that I made this video with my friends and I really loved it.
Once it came out and the response happened, that's when a little bit of apprehension kicked in. I thought, in a way it's my worst nightmare to have people at the concert twiddling their thumbs waiting for the one song that they recognise.
But any of those fears were quickly assuaged when I realised that would only happen if I stopped dead in my tracks and didn't do another thing in my life - then it would become my epitaph. That's not the case, it was so long ago that I even forget it really happened.
Would you do something like that again?
I can't say yes, I can't say no. I would be hesitant to. But I've said no to probably 200 things over the last five years, and I've really only said yes to like three.
My Man My Moon by Feist is currently on release in the UK. The musician talked to BBC News entertainment reporter Fiona Pryor.
