Here’s a music trivia tidbit to make oneself feel old: Belinda Carlisle is in her fifth decade in the music industry.



She will be bringing her catalog of hits from her solo career, and from the catalog of The Go-Go’s, on April 6 to The Palace Theatre in Greensburg as part of only her second US solo tour in the past 15 years.







Carlisle, who burst onto the national music scene as the lead singer of The Go-Go’s, got her start in music in the 70s by being in a few bands in the Los Angeles punk scene.







The Go-Go’s formed in 1978, and the rest, as they say, is history.







The group remains the most successful all-female band of all time, despite having the relatively short period of releasing new music.



The band has toured regularly for the better part of the last 15 years but has recently announced that their final tour will take place this August.







Despite the end of The Go-Go’s later on this summer, Carlisle is showing no signs of slowing down in her solo career and humanitarian work off of the stage.







She is currently working on a new mantra album, inspired by Kundalini Yoga.







She recently took time out between legs of her world tour to talk with Swerve Magazine from her home in France.







The Swerve Magazine: You've been in the music business for forty years, spanning five decades. Do you ever think about the length of your career and how long it’s been since you started out?







Belinda Carlisle: Is it five (decades) now? It's weird, I used to say four decades. It's gone to five now, but yeah, it is weird. I mean I just figured out maybe six or seven years ago that this must be what I'm meant to be doing in my life, which is singing.



It's just such a weird kind of profession, an amazing profession, and it's gone so fast in some ways, but it seems that the very beginning (of my career) was like such a long time ago.







Yeah, I've been around for a while. It's weird to say that.







SM: You are fortunate because there are other artists who've been around the same amount of time as you, even longer, but haven't had the same amount of success. You hit success pretty much right out of the gate with The Go-Go's. You're pretty open with your addictions in the past. Do you think that that instant success played a major role into you being thrust into the rock and roll lifestyle right off the bat?







BC: Oh, I think that I probably was (going to get involved in drugs), no matter what I would have done as a profession.



Actually, drugs and alcohol are occupational hazards of music, especially at that time in the '80s when there were no holds barred and cocaine wasn't such a big taboo and there wasn't a lot of stigmas attached to it.







It's an occupational hazard, but I think I would have probably fallen into that no matter what I did as a profession because that's just my personality.









SM: I know you're big into yoga now. Do you think that yoga, in a round about way, maybe saved your life or your career when you started getting into it more?





BC: Well, I think it helped maintain my sobriety. I only started yoga when I got sober. I certainly needed all the help I could get.



It's almost been eleven years, so I kind of started late in the game with my sobriety, so, I did everything. I took all the tools that I knew about yoga, but I didn't really practice it.







One of the most important discoveries in my life was finding yoga, and sobriety, of course.







SM: Speaking of yoga, is your new album out yet? Or, soon to be out?







BC: No, it'll be out in January. It's been slow going, but I've been really busy with other things. But, yeah, (the album is) all mantra, but mantras that are structured in pop song format. You'll hear a repetitive mantra, but it will sound like a pop song in another room, then you walk closer and you think, "What language is that girl singing?" It's not in English. It's for the yoga studio for the most part, but I can hear it (being played) on the radio.







SM: Are there any plans on releasing another pure pop album or are your pop days behind you, in terms of releasing new material?







BC: I don't know. I just do what I'm passionate about and it just hasn't been English-speaking pop for a long time. My last album was in 2007, that was all in French.







I'm at the point in my life now where I really have to work from the heart. I can't just do things because that's what people expect from me, otherwise, if I do that then it wouldn't be authentic at all. I do what makes me happy first and foremost.







SM: This is your first solo US tour in quite a while. Why did it take so long for you to tour the States as a solo artist?







BC: You know, (I’ve been) busy with other things. Most of my work is pretty much under-the-radar in the States. I work all the time, and I take a lot of time off for myself, too.







It's just because I didn't really have the time to put into it. I took the last couple years off from The Go-Go's, so it allowed me to have time to do a solo thing. Usually, The Go-Go's do a lot of dates, and that was a lot of my work. Now that that's coming to an end in August, I'll probably be out there more on my own.







SM: You just touched on that you were kind of underground here in the States for awhile. It seemed like when 1989 hit with the “Runaway Horses” album, you had a string of hits in Europe, but the chart success in the States did not come. Why do you think that your commercial success around that time frame was more based overseas than it was here in the US? Why did your popularity here dwindle seemingly overnight?







BC: Yeah, I mean it did dwindle, that's just a fact. I think that European audiences, and actually Australian audiences are a lot like this too, is that they are kind of with you for the long haul. Once they are your fan, then they are your fan for pretty much ever. I think American audiences are a lot more fickle. Maybe it's because they are being bombarded with a lot more stuff.







Who knows really, who knows. It's like there are so many variables.







SM: Now to The Go-Go’s...I guess this is it for The Go-Go's then, after the tour this summer?







BC: Yeah, we are leaving on a high note. It's not an acrimonious ending, which I think is really wonderful. It was going to happen at some point but I think it's better to leave on a high note rather than stay a little bit too long and have it be kind of sad. We still do really well on the road.







I just think it's time and the other girls think it's time too. We are done, we're done.







We are going to celebrate the legacy of the band for the month of August in the States and that's it.







SM: There are only going to be those few dates then in August? You aren't planning to add any more dates depending on how the tour goes?







BC: No, I don't have any more time this year and I think I would like to keep it nice and neatly wrapped up, a little sort of one month. I have so many other things on the card.



The other girls would say the same thing, it could go on and on and on but one month is enough, it really is.







SM: This isn't the end for you solo is it, touring?







BC: No, I'll always work solo. I love being able to make my own schedule and do my own thing. It's a whole different thing than The Go-Go's, so that could go on for a little while yet.







SM: In addition to touring, you have a lot going on personally, with humanitarian work. Tell me about the animal hospital you opened in India.







BC: I spent a lot of time in India and I always wanted to have an animal hospital. I have a lot of friends who work with NGOs in Calcutta. One of my friends who works with an NGO called Made by Survivors that rescues women and girls from the human slavery cycle and sex trade. He said, "I want to do an animal hospital," and I said, "Oh, I would love to do that with you." That's how it started because I spent so much time in India, too. We've been in existence for about two years now. Animal People Alliance, what we do beside providing services for street animals, is that we’re taking vulnerable women and sending them to be trained as animal caregivers and veterinarian nurses to be able to service a lot of the emerging animal hospitals and sanctuaries in India. It's kind of a two-fold thing that we are doing, creating employment and creating services for animals.







SM: The current Belinda, what with being sober and all of your humanitarian work, is almost at the opposite end of the spectrum than the Belinda of The Go-Go’s era. If possible, would you go back in time and change anything about your early career or younger self?







BC: No, I wouldn't change anything at all, and that means drugs, alcohol, nothing.







I mean, of course, I do have a few regrets that are very personal, but I wouldn't change a thing.

