Christine Anu happily admits she's giving her husband a hard time right now – but for a very good reason. The singer, who quit smoking over a year ago, has become an ambassador for lung health and wants her childhood sweetheart Simon Deutrom to kick his habit too.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
"I am driving him mad," she says. "Poor man – he tells me 'please give it a rest!' He's having hypnotherapy and he's struggling. And we reformed smokers are the worst people on earth!"
Anu has lent her talents to the Lung Foundation Australia's new consumer initiative Just One Breath, for Lung Health Awareness Month throughout November. Along with other prominent Australians including singer and songwriter Archie Roach, jazz musician James Morrison and big wave surfer Justen Allport, she appears in a moving video about the power of a single breath.
 
Anu was drawn to the project in support of her good friend Roach, who is a lung cancer survivor, and now she's a crusader for the cause. Hubby Deutrom, she says, "sneaks around behind our backs to smoke and I tell him: 'wouldn't it be nice if you didn't have to do that'?
"I know how hard it is," she adds. "But if I can do it, so can he! I put the habit down when I wanted to get rid of it in my life and I did it with no outside resources."
As a singer and actress, Anu understands the power of breath. "On stage, I love holding that last note as long as I can, because the audience takes that breath with you. It's a unified experience. There's nothing like hearing a singer go to the full extent of their breath."
In another first for the multi ARIA award winner, Anu's Christmas album has just gone on sale. "In the 20 years since I recorded my first album, I have never done a Christmas one," she says. There was just never the right window of time."
Island Christmas features duets with artists including The Voice finalist Steve Clisby, and TV presenter Jay Laga'aia as well as contributions from Anu's family. Her children, Kuiam and Zipporah, sing on title track Island Christmas and her mum translated a verse of Silent Night into the family's Torres Strait Island language.
Most importantly, the album celebrates all that's specifically Australian about Christmas. "We've inherited so much of our Christmas music and culture from the northern hemisphere, and I made a very conscious choice about not wanting to hear those borrowed sounds," says Anu.
"This album is about Christmas at the beach, a little blow-up pool in the backyard, sprinklers out, family. I really wanted my kids to sing along to a Christmas song that was unique to them.
"I hope that people here will adopt it as a new favourite, alongside their Michael Buble and Mariah Carey."
See justonebreath.com.au.
