Rufus Wainwright Happy With His Level of Fame

Posted on Nov 6th 2009 2:00PM by Steve Baltin
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Last month, Rufus Wainwright, who recently released the CD/DVD 'Live in Milwaukee,' took part in Gavin Friday's 50th birthday celebration at Carnegie Hall. It was quite the extravagant affair and Wainwright found himself on stage at times with Scarlett Johansson (with whom he dueted), Courtney Love, U2 and more. Wainwright confesses to Spinner that being around that level of fame can mess you up a bit. "One does get a little bit jacked up on the fame quotient," he says. " I found myself saying, 'Oh, I'm going to wipe the stage clean,' or 'Nobody's gonna notice me' or 'Why don't I sell more records?' You get in this weird, ornery mood."

But once the music started, that all faded away. "Then you get there and you start singing with the people and you start hanging with them as just human beings and all that s--- evaporates in a split second and the music really saves the day and pacifies the ego," he says.

After having some time to think about it, he is quite happy with his level of fame, even if it doesn't match that of his low-key duet partner that night, who he calls "Gorgeous Scarlett." "I'm sure Scarlett is very satisfied with her fame and is happy with it, but I would also imagine she's slightly jealous of my fame too," he says. "I have a personal life, I'm not constantly hounded, I have complete control over what I put out there and I'm not entrenched in this sort of studio warfare. It's a different type of fame. It's not as big, but it's somewhat exclusive as well."