Suzanne Vega has been talking about one of the hairier moments from her long career - when she received death threats before the biggest gig of her career up at that point: headlining the 1989 Glastonbury Festival.
Speaking to The i, she revealed that she took the threats extremely seriously, to the point of wearing a bulletproof vest. “Scotland Yard sat me down and said, ‘We advise you not to do the show.’ I was like, ‘Are you kidding me?’
“A man from Scotland Yard took his [vest] and said, ‘You’ll have to wear this.’ He was twice my size, so I had to gaffer tape myself into this giant bulletproof vest, and then put a denim jacket over it. It felt like every song was 20 minutes long. It was not comfortable. We were all nervous.”
It’s scarcely believable that an artist like Vega – whose lyrical content was generally uncontroversial - would end up in such a position. But it seems that her touring bassist had been the subject of a stalker and had included the singer in their threats, the latest of which happened on the morning of the performance.
But the show went off without a hitch and Vega made Glastonbury history. “I’m proud of being the first woman to headline,” he told The i. “There’s nothing diminished about that.”
She also spoke about her biggest UK hit, which ended up being the remix of the a capella track, Tom’s Diner. As reworked by Bath-based dance outfit, DNA, it reached Number Two in the summer of 1990.
DNA had used the track without permission and Vega could have sued. “But I listened to it and thought, ‘Wow, this is really cool’.” Instead she bought the rights to the track. “I was expecting it to play in dance clubs, and I thought that’d be the end of it.” But it became an international hit and is still heard on oldies radio today.
“Sometimes people come to the show expecting a whole show of R&B,” she said. “Or people would buy Solitude Standing (her 1987 album which housed the original track) expecting the remix.” She even admits to enjoying her brief time as a pop star. “It was exciting. I liked being successful. Whether you like my music or not, you could not deny that I was successful. I felt good about that.”
