Tête-à-tête with Gloria Loring.                                        Maximillien de Lafayette interviews Gloria Loring

Syndicated to the London Monthly Herald.

MH: If you had to summarize your whole life in one single song title, what it would be?
Gloria: Amazing Grace
MH: What "New Visions or new feelings" did you bring to the world of music?
Gloria: New? I don't think I ever had a vision. I just wanted to sing and be heard. So there's nothing new in what I do. I've just been trying all these years to become the best and fullest expression of this "Gloria." If anything, I've accepted that we are all linked by our best and worst intentions, emotions and motivations. I feel all the things everyone does, and that's what I have come to look for in my musical expressions - our commonality.
MH: What is a "Femme Fatale" to you?
Gloria: A woman like Greta Garbo, who makes women take notice and men ache.
MH: Are you one?
Gloria: Oh, no. Maybe for a few minutes, (I've been told) in my earlier years, but I don't think I ever had the attitude to really achieve that rank.
MH: You have multidimensional talents in so many areas. It is overwhelming and..... of course, you have created so many different stage personalities. Would this "varied persona of an artist" deprives you from defining the Loring Genre?
Gloria: Perhaps the only place I've created variety was in playing characters as an actress. My persona has been redefined, as is everyone's, as I have cast aside habits and beliefs I no longer needed and accepted what I now see as true. The variety has been provided by Providence. Opportunities were put in my path and I took them...
MH: Then what is the "Loring Style"?
Gloria: First of all, Loring is a taken name. I was born Gloria Jean Goff. My style, hmmmm, I would think mostly open and heart-connected, on my good days.   I hope I've learned to be somewhat graceful in most situations. Not too fussy with clothes. With music, arranging the words and music to provide the maximum emotional impact as I see it. With friends and family (and the public), trying to give what I'd like to get.
MH: What was or is or are the song (s) others sang you wished were yours?
Gloria:  Wing Beneath my Wings, Love Lift Us Up Where We Belong.
MH: What was the best gift you have ever received?
Gloria: My sons.
MH: And the one you have ever given?
Gloria: The continual softening of my outer crust.
MH: What people notice first about you?
Gloria: I've been told two things: my smile and my eyes.
MH: And what you notice first about people?
Gloria: The eyes. Their clarity and whether there is sadness or anger there.
MH: What do you fear most in life?
Gloria: Failing to have lived up to my potential. Getting to those last moments and feeling I was mistaken about the real meaning of my life.
MH: Do you talk about it in your music and lyrics?
Gloria: I have occasionally. I think the songs on the CD Turn the Page best speak of my perspective.
MH: The two most beautiful lines of a song you sang or heard?
Gloria: I can't think at the moment, but I'm sure it would be something from a Leonard Cohen song.

Tête-à-tête with Gloria Loring.

MH: How do you bring life and all its emotions to stage when you perform?
Gloria: I ask for grace and open my heart, knowing we all want to be touched and inspired.
MH: Are you fun? What do you do for fun?
Gloria: I can be. I love to laugh and tell jokes with friends. For fun every day, I chase my dogs around the house. I love to travel with my husband and family members, as there are always silly things that happen that you look back on and have as a shared experience.
MH: What was the best compliments you have ever received?
Gloria: The ones my sons give me every Mother's Day about the positive influence I've had on them.
MH: Any regrets in life?
Gloria: Oh, I suppose some linger deep down, but I try to ignore their rumblings. I know I've always done the best I can do at the time and I have found that as I've been able to forgive my failings, I've been able to forgive those of others.
MH: Do you believe in immortality? What is immortality to you?
Gloria: I do believe that spirit is not born and does not die. For me spirit is life energy, so somehow, I go on. I don't know the form it takes, but it warms me to think of a progression of life unto life.
MH: Do you care what people say about you?
Gloria: I guess I do, somewhat, but not the way I used to. It used to cripple me to know anyone was mad at me. Now it's more like a mosquito bite. Annoying, perhaps.
MH: Does your music or poetry evolve with time or transcend it? Do you write for a particular audience, with age and musical preference in mind, or just you write and sing the way you feel it and believe in it?
Gloria: Just what is in my heart and mind at the time, hoping that if it's true enough, it will touch that truth in others.
MH: You made it big time in showbiz. Was it a stroke of luck?  And meeting all those superstars whom you worked with, was it destiny, being in the right place at the right time, connections or simply , they have acknowledged your talent and decided to give you a chance?
Gloria: It's always both. As one spiritual teacher says, "There's grace (luck) and self-effort, like two wings of a bird."
MH: What did you do to get noticed by those superstars?
Gloria: I sang!
MH: What success means for you?
Gloria: Now? Living my life exactly the way I want to. Not taking a job because I have to, but because I want to.
MH: What did you do first, short after you got your first break?
Gloria: I sang from the time I was a little girl and got my first acting job in my early thirties.
MH: If you were not a singer, composer, actress, author, poet, lecturer, celebrity,  speaker, humanist what would you be doing today?
Gloria: I wouldn't be here! I think that's what I am here to be and do.
MH: While you are performing, writing or composing, do you look at the faces of people who surround you?
Gloria: Yes, yes.

Tête-à-tête with Gloria Loring.

MH: Which faces attract you most? Faces that catch you attention? What do you see in people?
Gloria: The ones that look like they're excited, pleased to be there. The scared ones attract my notice too. The ones who are afraid to open up.
MH: And do you write about it?
Gloria: Not that particularly.
MH: You have a lot of class. You are a refined lady. Does this class or your elegance alienates middle class people who attend your performances?
Gloria: Oh, no. I come from a very middle of the road background and I think that shines through. I don't think I'm elegant or classy. I just try to be appropriate.
MH: Is your wardrobe part of your personality?
Gloria: I think wardrobe always reflects personality. How? I like comfort, beauty, color, gracefulness. I choose that in the clothes I wear.
MH: And about the maquillage (the makeup)?
Gloria: Strong eyes, my good feature. Lipstick to enhance the smile.
MH: What do you like most about yourself?
Gloria: My adaptability.
MH: Who is your best audience?
Gloria: People who like my music!
MH: What are your best qualities as an artist?
Gloria: My ability to see an audience for the first time and begin again, singing the song with fresh ears and heart. Watching for what they need that night.
MH: And as a woman?
Gloria: My recently developed ability to apologize!
MH: Tell me about the best few lines you wrote? Your favorites?
Gloria: In "I Always Will," the song I write for my son Brennan:

In the way that the fragrance clings to the flower
In the way that a minute is held in an hour
In the same way my heart understands what is true
Nothing is closer to me than you

And for all my life and for longer still
I¹m gonna be with you, I always will
And in every dream that your years fulfill
I¹ll be with you, I always will

The song is being turned into an illustrated book.