Carla Bruni-Sarkozy is "excited" but "nervous" about performing in person for the first time since becoming France's first lady at a celebrity-studded concert in New York to mark Nelson Mandela's 91st birthday.
Dave Stewart, the
British singer-songwriter who will perform two duets with Miss Bruni on Saturday night and is a driving force behind the Mandela Day celebration, offered the insights on his friend after he spoke to her in Paris.
"Carla's excited and a bit nervous," said Stewart, who rose to fame with Annie Lennox as The Eurythmics.
Speaking to The Daily Telegraph from Los Angeles before flying to New York, he added: "But she thinks it's going to be great and she is really looking forward to it."
The duo, who were collaborating on a project in 2007 before she became the girlfriend of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, will sing her biggest hit Quelqu'un m'a dit ("Someone told me") and a version of Bob Dylan's Blowin' in the Wind.
He also revealed that they would resume the work they put on hold two years ago when aides at the Elysee Palace are understood to have made clear that it would be inappropriate for her to continue performing publicly.
Stewart will team up with her again in France next month and they hope to release the songs in the spring. "Carla is a great lyricist and she was helping me write songs in French," he said. "She has always been fascinated with songwriting. She wasn't just a model who released an album. Her first one went straight to number one."
He continued: "It's important for her to keep doing this. She loves writing songs and singing and playing. Once you have that addiction, it's very difficult to stop. I know go bonkers if I don't just don't get out and play my guitar sometimes."
Stewart, 56, and Miss Bruni, 41, became friends in the early 1990s after he moved to Paris for a stint following the break-up of the Eurythmics. He said their latest collaboration was still taking shape. "I'll see what she has up her sleeve," he said. "It might be her singing, me singing, her doing harmony."
The gossip in New York is that Mr Sarkozy will fly to Manhattan to see his wife perform at the legendary Radio City Music Hall. She has been given the thumbs-up by presidential officials to sing again publicly in honour of the 46664 Campaign, named after Mr Mandela's prison number for 27 years.
Stewart, a musical entrepreneur who is writing the lyrics for the West End debut for Ghost in 2010 and also working with Nokia on new methods for distributing music, helped launch the campaign in 2002, at the request of the former South African president.
Thie goal is to raise funds and capture the power of music, sports and celebrities to promote causes such as education, medicine and HIV-Aids prevention.
Saturday night's concert marks the end of a week of celebrations and events marking Mr Mandela's 91st birthday. Other stars expected to appear on stage include Stevie Wonder, Alicia Keys, Gloria Gaynor, Aretha Franklin and Cyndi Lauper, as well as the Soweto Gospel Choir and several leading African artists.
Souvenez-vous. C'était au début de sa tournée 2008... Madonna avait alors fait scandale en faisant défiler derrière elle, pendant sa chanson « Get Stupid » des images fortement politisées. Obama y cotoyait mère Thérésa, le Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, John Lennon ou Bono tandis que John McCain apparaissait non loin d'Hitler, de Robert Mugabe, le président du Zimbabwe, le leader nord-coréen Kim Jong II et de l'Ayatollah Khomeiny...
