The Lady Wants To Go On, after 25 years

OF the many languages Laura Fygi has sung in, her native Dutch isn't one of them. She said with a laugh: "Dutch isn't really a language. It's a throat disease. I prefer Roman languages because they have more temperament and melody."

Having already sung in English, Spanish and Italian, the 59-year-old waded into something a little more exotic - Chinese; her 2012 album Flower includes four songs in Mandarin.

She said: "I don't speak Mandarin at all, so it was challenging. The vowels are so different and very close together. I had a teacher with me when I was recording, and she would teach me how to pronounce the words, and I would write them down phonetically so I didn't get them wrong."