BY LYN COCKBURN --

Susan Aglukark has won Juno awards, seen her latest CD This Child become a top seller and been called "an international star" by the New York Times. But right now, she's excited about being pregnant.

So who knew she was even married?

"We prefer to keep it private, so we don't get into the wedding details or the baby details," she says, perhaps aware it's a bit late for secrecy since the baby is expected in October!

"I had decided I was going to remain single and live with my career. And of course as soon as you decide that, the right man comes along," she says and laughs.

But she politely refuses to go beyond acknowledging that her husband is an engineer in the entertainment business. Then she relents a little and says he was brought up "in the Toronto area."

Instead, we talk about her childhood, about her growing up in a family of two ordained Pentecostal ministers, about her going to church on Sundays and hearing hymns sung in both English and Inuktitut .

Out of that experience, she made a vow to include one gospel song or hymn on every album. On Arctic Rose, that hymn was the renowned Amazing Grace, which she sang in Inuktitut in memory of her grandmother and for her mother.

It is one of her hopes that the hymns and the Inuit chants will bring about an appreciation of her native language.

"I guess knowledge and understanding of the culture will come in time, but mostly people sit back and listen to the message of the songs," she says.

And for Aglukark, the message is the medium. It is a message of hope, of personal empowerment that evolved out of her own family background of alcoholism and sexual abuse. It is one she is determined to take to the young people of the North.

"The most important part of the message is keeping it simple. And the very simple message is there is no greater strength than yourself. There is nothing that you can do or hope for that you haven't already been given," she says.

And she knows she's a role model for the kids.

"When we organize tours in the North, it's always with the young people and schools in mind. A lot of the time they congregate in the gymnasium and we just sit down with them and talk and open the floor to questions," she says.

Where once she lived in a small northern town where dropping in on neighbors was expected, she now contends with life in big-city Toronto.

"A lot of people know you and nobody knows you," she says.

But this is not a time in Aglukark's life when she can sustain any negativity.

"I'm extremely excited about having a baby. I am so excited!" she says.