Benedictine nuns living in seclusion in southern France have beaten 70 other religious orders to a deal with Universal Music, the label that is home to artists including Lady Gaga and The Rolling Stones. "We never sought this, it came looking for us," said Reverend Mother Abbess at the Abbaye de Notre-Dame de l'Annonciation near Avignon, says a Reuters report in SBS.
"At first we were worried it would affect our cloistered life, so we asked St. Joseph in prayer. Our prayers were answered."
The nuns' album of Gregorian chants is set to be released in November.
The sisters are neither allowed to leave the convent or receive guests and only communicate with visitors through a grill.
"I passed the contract through the grill, they signed it and passed it back," said Dickon Stainer, chief of Decca Records, a unit of Universal, in a statement.
SIC: CTHAUS