Sheryl Crow battled serious depression in her youth and cancer in 2006. That same year, her relationship with Lance Armstrong ended after a cancer diagnosis of her own. She has since adopted a son and released a new album called Detours that draws from her experiences with heartache, cancer, and political views. Now cancer-free and touring with her son, Crow feels more awake to life's experiences and wants her music to reflect the issues people face daily.

1. AWAKE
AT
LAST
I’m not sure
whether cancer
made me a better
person, but it
definitely made
me more of an
awake person . . .
It forced me to
experience
everything that
was going on
Sheryl Crow is moving on with her life, having battled serious depression in her youth, a
much-publicised affair with cycling great Lance Armstrong and her own bout of cancer. Now
she has released a new album and is set to tour Australia this year, Amanda Dardanis reports
At this moment in
our history, I wish
there were more
protest songs out
there because
there’s so much
going on
EVERY six months, Sheryl Crow goes
through her wardrobe and turfs out all the
things she doesn’t need — little-worn
Versace dresses, designer jeans . . . bags of
the stuff.
She donates the luxury cast-offs to a
secondhand clothes shop called Sheryl the
Peril in her home town of Nashville,
Tennessee, that helps the homeless.
Every six months, Sheryl Crow presents
herself for a mammogram.
Each of these self-auditing rituals is vital
to the new existence that began for the
multi-platinum singer in 2006, Crow’s
annus horribilis.
It was the year that saw the demise of
her fairytale romance with American hero,
Tour de France champion cyclist and
cancer conqueror Lance Armstrong.
One minute she was happily choosing
her wedding dress, the next it was all over.
‘‘Fell apart’’ is how Crow has repeatedly
referred to the break-up. No blame, no
explanations.
Worse was yet to come. Two weeks after
the split, the nine-time Grammy winner
was diagnosed with cancer. Breast cancer.
Out of potential death, she embraced
new life. Aged 44, Crow realised it was
‘‘now or never’’ if she was ever going to
fulfil her dream of becoming a mother.
Immediately after her radiation treatment,
she adopted a newborn baby, Wyatt.
‘‘It’s three years on and I’m doing great,’’
says Crow, in her frail, raspy voice that still
manages to convey conviction.
‘‘I’ve always been pretty healthy, which
is one of the amazing things about cancer
— it doesn’t matter if you’re healthy or
not,’’ she says.
‘‘But I’ve really learned it’s the experi-
ences that take you far off your course that
really help you to learn who you are.’’
Life’s detours. It’s the theme that’s also
resurrected her music career (Crow spent
the Lance Years focused on supporting the
athlete, who had battled testicular and
brain cancer, got back on the bike and won
the Tour seven years running).
Detours, the natural-fit name of her
latest album, was penned during the
turbulent days of her own recovery.
Cranked out in a little over a month, it
deals with the vividly personal realm of
heartache (Now That You’re Gone, De-
tours) and cancer (Make it Go Away) and
Crow’s active political conscience (Love is
Free about Hurricane Katrina; Gasoline
about the global fuel crisis).
To Crow, who describes it as an ‘‘old-
fashioned political protest album’’, Detours
represents her awakening. She no longer
cares about things like radio play and being
on the celebrity radar; only that she is able
make records that are ‘‘artful and honest’’.
‘‘I’m not sure whether cancer made me a
better person, but it definitely made me
more of an awake person. When I was
diagnosed, everything came to a screech-
ing halt and I needed to take a good look at
my life. It forced me to experience
everything that was going on, from grief
and anger to sadness and fear.
‘‘We all get to the point where we really
adhere to the art of distraction,’’ she adds,
in her intense, unhurried way.
‘‘We watch a lot of reality TV, we’re
always on our computers or BlackBerries.
These things desensitise us. We’re all
caught up in material things.’’
Crow takes another of her thoughtful
pauses. ‘‘You know, I don’t think we really
want to experience these emotions. If we
were emotionally invested, there wouldn’t
be a war in Iraq. We’d be demanding that
our President be held accountable.
‘‘At this moment in our history, I wish
there were more protest songs out there
because there’s so much going on, not only
in America, that people are talking about
and living with on a daily basis, and yet
our music doesn’t seem to reflect that,’’
laments the singer, who famously
went on Good Morning America
with a T-shirt declaring: ‘‘I don’t
believe in your war, Mr Bush’’.
This tendency to ‘‘feel life in-
tensely’’ has always been part of Crow’s
emotional DNA. In her romantic life, too,
she has admitted to a history of being
drawn to those who needed a caretaker
and were ‘‘a little self-consumed’’ (she has
also dated troubled actor Owen Wilson
and rock legend Eric Clapton).
In her 20s she battled serious depression
that, at its worst, left her with thoughts of
suicide, unable to dress or leave the house.
Then in her 30s, with the runaway
success of her debut album Tuesday Night
Music Club she said ‘‘her life went mental’’.
She now believes her illness stemmed, in
part, from over-work.
‘‘People get depressed from being frag-
mented from their own lives,’’ Crow, 46,
tells Event. ‘‘We stop listening and caring
for ourselves and these things can cause
you to be in a state of distraction all the
time. That was definitely my case. I was
working so much and taking care of
everyone at the same time.
‘‘I don’t suffer from depression any more
— only because I’m highly aware of it. I
listen to myself and I try to put myself first
and take care of myself. When you’ve got a
new baby, you have to do that.’’
Even so, it can’t be easy. Being on an
extended tour with a 14-month infant
(Crow was in chilly Glasgow during this
interview and a jet-lagged Wyatt had just
woken, hours past his usual routine) and
trying to juggle a new, long-distance
relationship with Alabama restaurateur
John Cassimus (the couple were set up by
a mutual friend, she reveals).
In the past, she has concluded that
success is not conducive to relationships.
‘‘Touring is difficult on a relationship,’’
admits Crow (the next day she was due in
London to play a concert and catch up with
her good friends Jennifer Aniston and
new-beau singer John Mayer).
‘‘If you’re focused on your work, every-
thing takes a back seat. Hopefully, that’s
not going to be the case for me forever. I
have a great relationship at the moment.
So we’ll see what happens.’’
It’s obvious, though, that Wyatt is the
true love of her life these days. It must have
been difficult for her in the wake of the
Armstrong split, I suggest, giving up the
dream of the nuclear two-parent family.
Crow’s own parents have been together 53
years and she credits them as one of her
most inspiring influences.
‘‘I think that’s a huge lesson in life,’’ she
answers softly. ‘‘If you cling to the way
something is supposed to look in your
mind, you wind up missing out on a lot of
opportunity. My life is exactly the way it
was supposed to be in order for me to learn
what I’ve needed to learn. And Wyatt? He
came when the coast was clear.’’
Crow will be bringing her son and
parents Wendell and Bernice with her to
Australia in November when she makes
her first tour here in 11 years. The singer
will be on a double bill, supporting John
Mellencamp, but she pledges to make time
to play all the old hits — All I Wanna Do, If
It Makes You Happy, Everyday is a Winding
Road — to make up for her long absence.
‘‘My parents have never been to Aus-
tralia, they want to go around with me and
see everything,’’ says an excited Crow
before laughing for the first time.
‘‘Of course, I’ve told them they’ll have
nannying duties, too.’’
Sheryl Crow’s Detours album is out now.
Crow and John Mellencamp perform at
the Brisbane Entertainment Centre on
November 25. Ticketek 132 849.
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