Join Annie Lennox & Alain de Botton as they discuss the emotive potential of music, the challenges & rewards of Lennox’s career & how it connects to emotional intelligence & psychological well-being.

Internationally acclaimed singer, songwriter and Human Rights activist, Annie Lennox OBE, has been one of the most iconic figures in pop music for the best part of four decades.

Kicking off  her career in the mid 70’s, with the seminal new wave band, ‘The Tourists’ - releasing three albums and touring the UK, Europe, the USA and Australia. She describes those early years as a long rehearsal leading up to the beginning of the 80’s, when Eurythmics’ was co - founded with partner Dave Stewart. In the decade to follow, the duo rose to global fame with the classic album “Sweet Dreams are Made of This.”  Eurythmics released nine studio albums, going onto achieve more than 20 international hits and selling over 80 million records.

In 1992, Lennox released her first solo album, ‘Diva”, which went four times platinum. Followed byMedusa (1995), Bare (2003), Songs of Mass Destruction (2007), A Christmas Cornucopia (2010) and Nostalgia (2014), which shows her at the height of her talents, displaying the distinctive voice that has attracted a devoted audience.

In the album, Annie adapts resonant jazz songs from the Great American Songbook, to illustrate how, in her own words, the art of interpreting and recording someone else’s song has to come from an authentic and musically intuitive place. Her work always has her own individual stamp and identity, as testimony to the power of creativity and dedication to the final recorded outcome. As she herself puts it, “The calibre and quality of the work you make is essential to whether it will stand the test of time.”

More recently, she has used her unmistakable voice and emotional capacity to campaign for empowering women and girls around the world. Her activism encourages conversation about taboo topics and points towards the power of communication and transformation through collaboration.

She will be joined on stage by The School of Life Founder and philosopher Alain de Botton, whose own work takes a philosophical look at the therapeutic power of culture. Together, the two will discuss how music reunites us with the feelings we really need and how it can reveal our more hopeful, sensitive and resilient selves.