Mellow star with a bite

By SCOTT KARA


Dido warns the boys she goes out with that their private lives will be smeared all over the newspapers.

A couple of years ago that wouldn't have happened. She was happily engaged to her boyfriend of 12 years. Then she dumped him and said sorry in the most public way possible - she wrote about it on her second album, Life For Rent, which has sold more than 10 million copies world-wide and more than 60,000 copies in New Zealand.

Since that break-up, the pop star has been connected with, among others, a Canadian model and England international footballer Sol Campbell, who plays for her favourite team, Arsenal.

She also admits that yes, she is a product of the "E" - that's E for ecstasy - generation brought up on dance music and clubs.

Is this really the Dido who comes across as harmless as her music? Talking to her she can be giggly, staunch, and thoughtful. And when asked how she keeps her audience's attention during shows - because let's face it, it's pretty mellow stuff - she gets feisty. "Haven't you seen my live show?" she snaps, half-jokingly. No. You've only been to New Zealand once, after all.

Now, before we get freaked out about the adorable Dido going off the rails, let her explain. She says it was easier when the media focused solely on her music rather than who she's holding hands with.

"But, you know what," she says, in her surprisingly everyday accent, "it's all good. I'm having a good life and once you get used to [the tabloids] it's okay.

"I have to warn anyone I go out with that they're going to have their private lives dragged up and smeared all over the papers, so if someone's prepared to take that on then that's cool," she laughs.

"I don't really care what they say about me. I did one interview in Elle magazine and the journalist said, 'Do you like sex?' I was like, 'What do you want from that? Yeah, of course I do'. And then a week later I'm all over the tabloids [as] having a sex habit."

Dido (born Florian Cloud de Bounevialle Armstrong) is one of today's biggest music stars alongside Coldplay, Eminem, and U2.

So far, the 32-year-old has sold more than 24 million albums (and counting) and that's only after two releases. Although she may not have the same rabid fan worship as others such as Eminem or Outkast, Dido is one of music's biggest earners.

She was asked to be part of the remake of the 1984 Band Aid song Do They Know It's Christmas? with Robbie Williams, Bono, and Sir Paul McCartney. Fine company, indeed.

The Band Aid charity single, which featured an all-star line-up of artists when it was first released, was the first record Dido ever bought. She got a stereo for her 13th birthday - Christmas Day 1984 - and she bought the Band Aid single and a Kate Bush album to go with it.

"So to be asked to do it 20 years later I think it's pretty fitting," she says.

Bono hollering, "Well tonight, thank God, it's them, instead of you" may have influenced her formative years, but it was making dance music with her brother Rollo, from the band Faithless, that set her musical course.

"That's where it all started, with making dance music. That's the sort of music that fascinated me when I started making my record [1999's No Angel], you know. And all that sort of come-down music, like William Orbit, Massive Attack, Tricky - the mellower side of it I loved.

"The electronic side is really important to me - that's what sets me apart from a lot of people. There's enough pure singer-songwriters, and I like mixing electronica with the more traditional songwriting."

Eminem recognised her songwriting talents. When the rapper sampled Dido's Thank You for his song Stan, she became a world-wide star.

However, you could argue that Dido was already on her way since No Angel had already sold one million copies in the United States before Eminem wrote Stan.

Do they stay in touch? Yes, they do talk occasionally but "he was never someone I was just going to call for a chat", she says, sounding peeved.

Life For Rent needed no such celebrity help to move units, and it is looking like it will outsell her debut.

When it was released her life became a mix of private planes, two gigs in one day, and "tonnes of promo. It was mania," she remembers.

And that's why her home in London is still her safest haven.

"I've moved about three streets from my childhood home. My brother, my mum, and my dad are all within walking distance.

"All my childhood friends still live round there and I know everyone in the shops. It's perfect because I can just sort of keep living my life."

After her three New Zealand dates, which she says she's doing purely for enjoyment and because she had such a good time here last time, she plans to "disappear for two years" - travel the world and write her next album.


Performance

* Who: Dido, English songbird

* Where: North Shore Events Centre, Wednesday; Westpac Centre, Christchurch, Sat Nov 20; Events Centre, Wellington, Mon Nov 22;

* Albums: No Angel (1999)

Life For Rent (2003)