July 21, 1996 By PAUL CANTIN --

Singer Jane Siberry is speaking about her new album, new tour and new, self-made record company, but the incessant ringing of a phone nearly drowns her out.

Is that a call she has to take? There's a confused pause.

"I don't know what that phone is," Siberry says, as she searches for the source of the noise.

"Oh, it's the fax ringing. We've never had a fax before."

It's just the latest of many firsts Siberry is experiencing these days. With her latest project -- a multi-media company called Sheeba -- virtually everything is new.

Sheeba, launched in May, has already overseen the release of Siberry's new album, Teenager, and it marks the singer's all-out attempt at handling all aspects of her career -- without the support and meddling of a major label.

"You know, there's a lot of quirky things, first time things, that we're going through," she says of her newfound indie status.

"We really have to really be on our toes."

She only recently disentangled herself from her deal with mega-label Warner-Reprise and has taken the bold step of seizing control of her work, selling Sheeba CDs, with heavy reliance on marketing through the Web. Splitting her attention between the artistic and business side of her career hasn't hurt her creativity at all.

"I haven't even had time to not be who I am. It is a clearer, stronger voice coming through. Not no-nonsense, but more to-the-point. It's like my dross has been burned off a little bit, just because of the intensity of the workload."

Compounding the workload is an upcoming tour, which includes a free concert at Rideau Falls Park on Wednesday. Siberry promises a "fan-friendly" tour, designed partly to help finance Sheeba's start-up.

Sheeba's small-scale means Siberry answers phones, helps package CDs for shipping and is involved in every aspect of the process, with help from a small staff.

"I'm very fussy about the labels going on straight. No typos," she says of the hands-on approach.

So why would an artist of Siberry's stature walk away from the support of a major label? The reasons are complex, and there's certain aspects the singer says she can't discuss.

After debuting in 1981 with a self-titled LP, Siberry signed with Canadian indie Duke Street for No Borders Here, which spawned the surprise hit Mimi On The Beach.

The follow-up, The Speckless Sky, was a critical success, accompanied by a memorable, highly-theatrical tour. Top 40 success seemed like the next obvious step, and the more powerful Warner-Reprise signed her.

Siberry soon embarked on an adventurous series of records: The densely-textured The Walking, the largely acoustic Bound By The Beauty, the diverse and often brilliant When I Was A Boy and the jazz-flavored Maria.

Critics and her devoted fan-base cheered, but sales were modest and the label eventually asked to reopen Siberry's contract.

"I was already looking for an out," she says. "I was really lucky. That gave me an out, because they wanted to change the contract.

"I just kept my fingers crossed, my mouth shut, and then the due date came up and they wanted to renegotiate."

The relationship was frustrating for both sides, she says.

Apart from advances paid by Warner-Reprise to finance the making of her records and some mechanical and publishing royalties, she says she never made any money on her work. The label lost money, too.

"They have put a lot of money into me, and as a business venture, I was not pulling my weight," she says.

"I resent being in that position. I don't want to be some kind of charity case.''

Sheeba markets her music with the understanding its appeal will be selective. But the lean operation means she could stand to earn more money selling fewer records.

Orders for the new CD Teenager have already flooded in, just through word-of-mouth among her fans.

"What a pipeline! One whisper in the right direction, and it is really a megaphone on top of a car going down Yonge Street," she says.

Despite that reaction, the concept behind Teenager would almost certainly draw a blank stare from a major-label marketing department. It's a collection of newly-recorded acoustic songs, written by Siberry during her formative years.

"It seemed so right, now. I'm taking stock of everything from the past. I'm scooping up loose ends."

Teenager is just the first of many proposed Sheeba projects that, as Siberry describes them, "won't be everyone's cup of tea," but will hopefully find their niche.

Coming soon is a live album, and there's also talk of publishing stories and remixing and repackaging older work.

Sheeba is a brave step. The record biz is waiting to see if major artists will abandon record label financing, promotion and distribution in favor of indie autonomy. "Whether I succeed or fail, I feel I'm supposed to be doing it.

"If it succeeds, that's great. If it fails, I guess I'm supposed to learn something from that."

Naysayers are inevitable, but Siberry ignores the negative.

"I didn't hear them. But that's sort of normal for me. I have selective hearing. If they say I can't do it, I only hear: Of course I can."

* Sheeba Records can be contacted at 1-888-3-SHEEBA, or through the World Wide Web at www.sheeba.ca.