3 months ago 15th Mar 08:15
Moving from credible actress to credible singer has always be a precarious career path, claiming many victims. For every success story there are more than a handful of failures, or in celebrity-to-celebrity ratio, one Jennifer Lopez to three Minnie Drivers.
So when news broke that modern screen icon Scarlett Johansson was planning to tread the notoriously rocky road from Hollywood darling to pop star the obvious musing and mutterings about her 'inevitable' demise ensued.
However, not every actress-turned-singer has an already critically acclaimed singer-songwriter in their corner.
The gruff-voiced jazz musician Tom Waits has not only agreed to let Scarlett cover 10 of his hits for her debut album 'Anywhere I Lay My Head', but he is "pleased" with the results.
Scarlett revealed: "Tom Waits' melodies are so beautiful and his voice is so distinct. I sent him some of my early, early recordings, and he said, 'Go ahead.' I've heard he's very pleased."
As if one musical legend wasn't enough, Scarlett also managed to convince pop supremo and chart chameleon David Bowie to lay down vocals for one of the tracks.
And, as with Waits, Bowie has been busy waxing lyrical about the untapped musical talent that is Scarlett Johansson - even going as far to compare her to some of today's greatest wordsmiths.
He gushed: "The songs are great, really good Tom Waits stuff, and Scarlett's performances are mystical and cool.
"She creates a mood that could have been summoned by someone like the novelists Margery Latimer or Jeanette Winterson."
Bowie was even modest enough to play down his own involvement in the project, insisting Scarlett had everything covered.
He explained: "I've seen the press on the album and I suppose the record company wanted to spin my involvement a little more than it actually warrants.
"All I really contribute are these oo's and ah's on a couple of tracks. David Sitek, the producer, originally asked me to do three songs, but for one of them, 'I Don't Wanna Grow Up', I didn't feel I could contribute much to it, so I left it alone."
On top of the two already established names, Scarlett has also injected a little bit of cool into her debut with the help of a collaboration with Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Nick Zinner.
But what about the star herself, after wowing audiences with her early performances in 'Girl With A Pearl Earring' and 'Lost in Translation', there was no question of film offers drying up.
So why did she feel the need to dip her toe into the often shark-infested waters of a musical career?
Well, for want of a better reason, it seems simply because she fancied a new challenge.
She explained: "It was a whole other magical experience for me. It was amazing. I worked with some incredible people and was just able to work, to do something completely different.
"I recorded in a very remote area in Louisiana and just have free reign to be crazy crazy and that is so exciting."
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