Source : Daily Record

Nov 19 2010 Exclusive by John Dingwall

Annie Lennox has revealed she is to sing for Barack Obama.

The Scot’s singer is part of an all-star line-up who will perform in front of the US president next month.

Lennox, 55, will rub shoulders with Mariah Carey, teen sitcom iCarly star Miranda Cosgrove and host Ellen DeGeneres at TNT’s Christmas In Washington event on December 17.

The show is at tended annually by the president and first lady.

And for Lennox, it is the most prestigious gig in a string of engagements she has lined up in the US.

She said: “I am singing for Obama in Washington but I am not supposed to talk about that. It’s a secret because it has not been announced yet. I’ll be in trouble for mentioning it.”

But Annie, who appeared on BBC1’s Strictly Come Dancing at the weekend, insists she will not appear on the ITV1 rival X Factor.

She slammed the show as “terrible”, adding: “I don’t like it. I live in another planet than X Factor. It’s not my scene.”

“I don’t like the public humiliation of kids who don’t know any better than going on a show like that.”

She has just released new album “A Christmas Cornucopia” and it is expected to crash into the top 20 on Sunday. It features her interpretations of traditional festive tunes.

Annie, who was born on Christmas Day in Aberdeen, revealed: “I’d always wanted to record these songs but I wasn’t so aware of this phenomena of recording Christmas albums.

“They are beautiful Christmas carols I have loved all my life.”