Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2008. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Sunday Times (Johannesburg) - March 9, 2008
Rowan Philp
The rock diva relaunched her campaign single, Sing - dedicated to supporting the Treatment Action Campaign - at a media event in London on Friday night.
The anthem, featuring Madonna, Dido and 21 other female stars, flopped in December because of a lack of record-label support, poor publicity and "the clutter of Christmas", said Lennox.
But she said the "phenomenal" turnaround in the health of "Avelile" - an Eastern Cape girl living with HIV - had helped to revive both the song and the campaign, as well as a "lifelong commitment to South Africa".
"I first met Avelile at a hospital near Mthatha in July last year. She had the body weight of a one- year-old baby - in really bad shape. She had come in 10 days earlier with pneumonia, having never received antiretroviral treatment," Lennox said.
The music star visited the girl again in December last year at her father's home near Germiston.
"And she was healthy," she said. "She looked like a completely different girl. She's now attending school and leading a normal life with her family. She's the ultimate example of how treatment can give a child their life back, and a real inspiration to me personally."
At a packed Frontline Club in West London Lennox outlined the "second phase" of the campaign, which included support from British Sport Relief and a commitment by The Body Shop chain in the UK to promote and sell the single at its 75 stores.
Although the song appears on her recent album, Songs of Mass Destruction, the new CDs feature remixes of Sing.
Born out of Lennox's involvement in the 46664 concerts - which has seen Nelson Mandela appeal to South Africans to "sing out" about HIV/Aids - the anthem calls for women to "Sing, my sister ... sing! Let your voice be heard/What won't kill you will make you strong!"
Lennox, 53, said this week's events marked the moment when "for the first time, I embark on my own campaign, to help ensure children in South Africa are born not just free, but free of HIV".
She said the death of her son, Daniel, at birth in 1988, had "forever changed the way I saw life and its fragility".
"The experience of having a stillborn son affected me profoundly," said Lennox. "It did occur to me that there is a link to this absolute drive I have found to make a difference for mothers in South Africa.
"If something positive can come from that terrible time for me, that would be wonderful."
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