“It felt like every song was 20 minutes long. It was not comfortable”: Suzanne Vega explains why she had to play her groundbreaking 1989 Glastonbury set wearing a bulletproof vest

Suzanne Vega has been talking about one of the hairier moments from her long career - when she received death threats before the biggest gig of her career up at that point: headlining the 1989 Glastonbury Festival.

Speaking to The i, she revealed that she took the threats extremely seriously, to the point of wearing a bulletproof vest. “Scotland Yard sat me down and said, ‘We advise you not to do the show.’ I was like, ‘Are you kidding me?’

“A man from Scotland Yard took his [vest] and said, ‘You’ll have to wear this.’ He was twice my size, so I had to gaffer tape myself into this giant bulletproof vest, and then put a denim jacket over it. It felt like every song was 20 minutes long. It was not comfortable. We were all nervous.”

It’s scarcely believable that an artist like Vega – whose lyrical content was generally uncontroversial - would end up in such a position. But it seems that her touring bassist had been the subject of a stalker and had included the singer in their threats, the latest of which happened on the morning of the performance.

But the show went off without a hitch and Vega made Glastonbury history. “I’m proud of being the first woman to headline,” he told The i. “There’s nothing diminished about that.”

Suzanne Vega, DNA - Tom's Diner - YouTube

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She also spoke about her biggest UK hit, which ended up being the remix of the a capella track, Tom’s Diner. As reworked by Bath-based dance outfit, DNA, it reached Number Two in the summer of 1990.

DNA had used the track without permission and Vega could have sued. “But I listened to it and thought, ‘Wow, this is really cool’.” Instead she bought the rights to the track. “I was expecting it to play in dance clubs, and I thought that’d be the end of it.” But it became an international hit and is still heard on oldies radio today.

“Sometimes people come to the show expecting a whole show of R&B,” she said. “Or people would buy Solitude Standing (her 1987 album which housed the original track) expecting the remix.” She even admits to enjoying her brief time as a pop star. “It was exciting. I liked being successful. Whether you like my music or not, you could not deny that I was successful. I felt good about that.”