JUDY COLLINS, with her angelic voice and exquisite musical taste, inspired a generation with memorable interpretations of songs such as Amazing Grace and Sondheim's Send In The Clowns.

She is also a gifted writer, publishing two autobiographies and a novel called Shameless, which was praised for its realistic portrayal of rock's seamy side. Now she has released an album of songs inspired by the novel.

Collins pulls no punches as she deals with addiction and loss - experiences that blighted her own life. She was treated for alcoholism in the mid-1970s; and her son, Clark Taylor, committed suicide in 1992, aged 33.

Her crystalline soprano still rings true on this candid and uplifting album.

Updated: 13:52 Thursday, April 10, 2003