[ ClassicalX ] Fame and Fortune: Lesley Garrett

Lesley Garrett is a singer for both the English and the Welsh national operas. She has released 11 solo albums and has performed around the world.

The diva, who made her Royal Opera debut in The Merry Widow in 1997, played Rosina in The Barber of Seville at The Coliseum to great acclaim in 1998 and 2001.

Last year she joined the cast of the hit musical Carousel, which is now playing at the West End’s Savoy theatre.

She is also a panellist on the ITV daytime show Loose Women.

Garrett, 54, who was born in Thorne, near Doncaster, lives in Muswell Hill, north London, with her husband Peter, 57, a GP, and their two children, Jeremy, 16 and Chloe, 15.

How much money do you have in your purse?

About £200. I normally have between £150 and £200 at any given time. I prefer to pay in cash — it helps me to keep track.

What credit cards do you use?

I have a Lloyds Gold card but I rarely use it. It’s for absolute emergencies. I don’t believe in credit cards and I hate debt of any kind.

I pay off mortgages as fast as I can — usually in five or six years. I’m paid in lump sums so I pay off large chunks of the mortgage instead of saving. For me debt equals imprisonment and I can’t bear the loss of freedom.

Other than the mortgages, I don’t think I’ve ever been in the red.

Are you a saver or a spender?

Both, but I only like saving creatively, by which I mean not putting money into boring savings accounts. Properties get me far more excited. I can enjoy them and they add to my life.

Other than an account for my taxes, which I make sure is regularly topped up, I generally spend what I earn.

How has the credit crunch affected you?

I lost some concerts last summer. Many of the festivals I was going to sing at were supported by local councils that invested in failed Icelandic banks. They’ve been forced to cut back.

The West End is also struggling, although things are slowly starting to pick up.

How much did you earn last year?

More than £150,000 unfortunately, so I’m going to be caught out by the 50% tax band. My most lucrative and most reliable income stream is my concert work. I earn about £10,000-£15,000 per concert.

Have you ever been really hard up?

When I was a student at the Royal Academy of Music, I worked as a nude model and if I didn’t get the tips, I basically didn’t eat. I modelled for artists and sculptors, not page three, I promise you.

In the 30 years I’ve been a professional singer I’ve only been out of work for about six months in the early 1980s, because I lost my voice. I signed on the dole and claimed sickness benefit.

Do you own a property?

I own four outright. The family home is a six-bedroom Edwardian house in north London. I bought that when my son was born in 1993 for £245,000. It’s probably worth about £1.25m, perhaps £1.5m before the credit crunch.

I’ve also got two cottages, built in the 1820s, in the village I grew up in — Epworth in South Yorkshire. It’s actually one old cottage that has been divided into two.

We use one side as a holiday home and the other is rented out. The rent pays for the maintenance on both properties. I like to go there at least once a month.

I bought the first half before I met my husband — about 20 years or so ago — for about £40,000. I bought the second half soon afterwards but for about £30,000 because it was very run down and hadn’t been renovated for 50 years. The properties together are probably worth about £300,000.

I also have a house in France, just north of Toulouse. It’s in the middle of a forest — very remote and very out of the way. It has four bedrooms and two bathrooms.

It’s very old and full of mice. They’ve just eaten all my blooming electrics. I’ve had to have the whole place rewired. I bought it in 2000 for about £250,000.

What’s the property market like in France?

I’d say it’s weaker than in the UK, especially around Toulouse. English buyers, who really did prop up the market in southern France, have disappeared.

What’s better, property or pension?

It’s going to be property with me all the time. I can enjoy my properties. I can see what my garden has done or what my trees have done. I own trees. Who would want a pension when you can own a tree? It’s a no-brainer.

I do have a couple of very small personal pensions. I started one when I was at the English National Opera — the opera singers’ pension, which we were rather obliged to take, and another one. I contribute a small amount to both.

What was your first job?

Working on a fruit and veg market stall in Thorne when I was 14. I did that until I got hypothermia and was brought home in a lorry on a sack of potatoes. I was paid 10 shillings a day.

Are you better off than your parents?

Yes, but I think it’s natural that I should be. They both worked on the railways but were determined to better themselves.

My father was a signalman until he was able to get to teacher training college. My mother was a seamstress.

What is the most lucrative work you have ever done? Did you use the fee for anything special?

About 20 years ago, I sang one note at the end of an advert for Taittinger, which happens to be my favourite champagne. It was the last note of Verdi’s La Traviata and I was paid £20,000.

The whole thing took about five minutes and I paid off my first mortgage with the money.

Do you invest in shares?

My husband invests our yearly Isa allowance. I let him do it because he seems to get such incredible pleasure out of doing it. I gather from him that our most successful investments over the years have been through following a man called Anthony Bolton [manager of the Fidelity Special Situations fund from 1979 to 2007]. Peter is a great follower of his, although I didn’t impress him recently when I asked if he was any relation to Michael.

What’s been your best investment in life?

Marrying my husband — in every respect, including financial. Without him, I think I would have made big mistakes.

What about worst?

We lost some money from investing in an IT fund at the height of the dotcom bubble. We lost around £5,000. [Its New York-based investment managers were arrested on fraud charges in May 2005 and after the fund was wound up in March 2004.]

Do you manage your own financial affairs?

My two Peters, my beloved husband and my accountant, who’s called Peter Edney — look after most things.

What’s the most extravagant thing you have ever bought?

The house in France. It was a complete impulse buy. A friend of mine who knew I was thinking about buying in that area pointed it out to me. I went out there and in half an hour I paid cash for it.

What is your money weakness?

Evening dresses — you can never have enough posh frocks, can you?

What aspect of the taxation system would you change?

It didn’t surprise me that tax for those earning more than £150,000 increased. It’s an inevitable consequence of the global financial crisis. I’m incredibly proud of our government, I have to say. I was thrilled to my marrow when our prime minister hosted the G20 Summit. Barack Obama is saying Gordon Brown is doing a fantastic job, but we let ourselves get side-tracked by piddly things like a few expenses.

What is your financial priority?

Independence for myself and my family. The big problem with buying property is that if you buy as an investment or as a substitute pension, then you have to sell them at some point. If you love them, though, it can start to get very hard. I can see myself coming a cropper in years to come.

What is the most important lesson you have learnt about money?

Not to be a slave to it.

Source: The Times