DAVE'S DIARY - 24 FEBRUARY 2004 - JO DEE MESSINA

JO DEE MESSINA HEADS TO CAT LAND

But, unlike her previous promo tour, Jo Dee won't be accompanied by former fiance and tour manager Don Musquiz.

''I think both of us decided that if after seven-and-a-half years of being together we're still unsure," Messina revealed recently.

"Well, let's just say, I think you ought to be sure,'' she said.

Messina is touring to promote her Greatest Hits CD which also produced her new hit single, I Wish.

The singer, who keeps fit by jogging and boxing, has had a dozen Top 10 and 5 #1 hits from her four albums that have sold four million plus copies.

BEER CAN HILL BURNS

Her previous album Burn - featuring the Tina Arena penned title track - was released the week Nu Country's Beer Can Hill studios burned down at 9.49 p m on June 26, 2000 - the first day of the station's 28th broadcast.

I was scheduled to interview Jo Dee live to air on Nu Country FM about 'Burn' the day after the station burned down on June 26, 2000.

Messina is renowned for her fitness.

"I'm going to do a triathlon this year!" she declares. "That's my goal. My immediate goal is an Olympic trial-length triathlon. That's a .9-mile swim, a 24-mile bike ride and a 6.2- mile run. These aren't incredibly difficult distances. However transitions from the water to the bike to the run are the toughest part."

Jo Dee's serious about her training - she takes her bike on the road with her and runs nearly everywhere.

"Sometimes I listen to music when I run," she says. "upbeat stuff like Shania Twain or Christina Aguilera or Sara Evans. Something to get your blood pumping."

But not when she's swimming.

"It's tough on the road because a lot of hotels have tiny pools where after three strokes you're at the end," she says.

"And at the triathlon itself, the swim is tough because everybody gets in the water at the same time, so they're all on top of each other. The whole reason I wanted to do a triathlon was because I wanted to bet on myself. If I make it, it will be on my own merit. If I don't make it, then it's no one's fault but my own."

It's a philosophy that carries over to all aspects of Jo Dee's life.

NEW ALBUM IN AUTUMN

Messina is looking forward to the release of her fourth studio album in 2004. The record will feature several of her original, highly personal tunes. "I'm excited!" says Jo Dee. "For the first time in my career, my songwriting has been taken seriously. Some of the songs I wrote for this next record are so honest it's scary. All the stuff I write is really about me." Sometimes Love's Just Not Enough" is especially revealing. "I went back and listened to that song the other day and it just slayed me," says Jo Dee. "I started crying! Partly because of the emotion behind the song. Partly because I realized I'm going to have to perform this in front of people!" The song is about two people - perhaps Messina and Musquiz - who love each other but love isn't enough to keep them together.

Marriage is definitely on Messina's forward planner.

"I'm an old-fashioned, romantic goofball who believes you should only marry once. Good luck to me!" she says "hopefully I won't have to wait until I'm 99!"

When Jo Dee was a little girl, she made a wish - that her divorced parents would reunite.

"I think every child in a divorced family wishes that their parents would get back together," says Messina, "they're two wonderful people, but put them together, and it's combustible! Looking back, it was a blessing my wish didn't come true. My father was really strict and never would have let me start singing in clubs when I was 13. I would not have had this career and been able to take care of my family and other
people like I do now."

CLICK HERE FOR NU COUNTRY INTERVIEW WITH JO DEE MESSINA - 1998

CLICK HERE FOR TOUR DATES

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