24 MusicWeek 15.11.13 PROFILE GABRIELLE
GIFT OF THE GAB T
TALENT n BY TINA HART
wo decades have passed since Gabrielle came to prominence with the time-defying hit Dreams - a single which sold a whopping
12,000 copies in the first half of 2013 alone. Following her smash debut single, she enjoyed
five Top 11-charting studio albums, including No.1 LP Rise in 1999, and has sold over 10 million records. After a music biz hiatus, the British belle is back and enthused about her new material and label team at Island. Music Week spoke to the Ivor-winning artist
about her return, fake co-writers, her initial ‘Hell No’ reaction to Naughty Boy ‘messing’ with Dreams, and her ambition to be like Tina Turner…
Is it true that after your 2007 album Always you kind of fell out of love with music and semi-retired, but after a chance meeting with producer Syience you decided to revisit your music? Yeah, kind of. There was a point where I’d kind of done what I wanted to do. I’d had successful albums but then I became a mum and you’re not there at the school gates… Plus, my whole original label team wasn’t there so it felt a bit like… it’s not fun making music without the people you’re used to and there’s a bit of a fear of the unknown. I thought, ‘You know what? I’ve done a lot better than I ever thought I’d do so I’m ready to hang up my microphone’. And I thought I had! [laughs] I know people can complain when you get to
a certain age, but I don’t take that on board. You’ve got people like Madonna,Mary [ J Blige] and Cher, coming back with big records. I’m making music at a time in my life when I’m really happy, I’m enjoying what I’m doing and working with new people, and one or two old people. Right now, I’m in my element.
It’s nice to hear you talk fondly of your label team… Right now I’m signed to Island and they are an amazing team. I’d originally been signed to Go Beat Records - that ended up going via Polydor, then Island for a short time, Then the MD of Go Beat went on to run Virgin and it became like, ‘Oh, there’s no one of the original team left.’ My new team with Darcus [Beese] as president, I totally love them all. They get me, I feel so welcome and I feel like I’ve definitely made the right decision.
Aside from very recently, had you been working on music at all in the time since your last album release? Off and on. By rights I should have had about 10 albums if I’d been doing it constantly but yes, hence me adding six new songs to this Greatest Hits album. There is loads more new material but Darcus was like, ‘I know you’d like a new album but we want to celebrate the fact that this is your twentieth year since releasing Dreams’ - 20 years ago, June 7. So it’s a case of celebrating the old and showcasing some of the new as a little taster.
Gabrielle’s Dreams are still coming true as she returns to music 20 years after her No.1 debut
www.musicweek.com
ABOVE
Album Now And Always - 20 Years Of Dreaming will be released on November 18 via Island Records and lead single Say Goodbye on November 25
“People can complain when you get to a certain age, I don’t take that on board. Madonna, Mary J Blige and Cher are coming back with big records. And right now, I’m in my element” - GABRIELLE
Can you tell us who you’ve been collaborating with and if we’ll hear a studio album of all-new material next year? I was having so much fun writing that I couldn’t put all the new stuff on this album. I’ve been working with DBH (Emeli Sande) and MNEK who’s fabulous – I don’t know if he knows how good he is - as well as more with Syience, Rich ‘Biff ’ Stannard - who did a lot of stuff on my Rise album, Paul O’Duffy and possibly some others... I’m really excited. For 2014 I’m hoping to release an album of all-new songs but it could be 2015 by the time we end up trying to work this one, as we’re planning to tour it next year. There’s plenty of new material though.
Looking at your awards list, there’s a very impressive Ivor for Outstanding Song Collection. Are you adamant that you have co-writes on every track? I was really chuffed with that. I know there’s ‘co-writes’ and some people never really write their songs [laughs], that is not me! People who know me know from the day I wrote [singles] Dreams, Out Of Reach, Sunshine… that’s what I do. If I haven’t written a song, it’s got to be a bloody good one - by me singing it I’m endorsing it. Like when Naughty Boy and Emeli Sande came to me with Hollywood [a track from NB’s Hotel Cabana album] I loved it so much and the result was something I was really
impressed with. I’m a writer, it’s what keeps me sane, it’s how I get my therapy, I’ve always enjoyed doing it and hope to do it until the day I die.
You’ve been refreshingly open about your initial scepticism about Naughty Boy re-working Dreams – tell us how it happened… My manager Lisa Bennington first mentioned messing around with Dreams and I was like ‘Hell no!’ They’re still playing it on the radio 20 years later, I’m still getting my PRS - that’s amazing as I’ve done no promo for it, minding my own business, it’s wonderful. But Naughty Boy is a dream person to work with, he’s so cool, just real, and lovely. I remember doing the vocals and still thinking ‘Oh, it’s going to be crap’ because I wasn’t impressed with what I’d done but he was like, ‘No, leave it to me’. By the time I heard it I was very impressed; the end result was amazing and I salute him.
Looking back over the years, are there any poignant business lessons you’ve learnt? At the end of the day, you’ve got to recognise that not everyone’s going to get it but just write as much as you can. For anyone new and upcoming, you’ve really got to have a good relationship with your manager - if in doubt do without and try and get somebody new in.
Do you have any particular ambitions left? Musically, I’d love to be around like Tina Turner who came back aged 44 and was just amazing. My ambition is to just keep doing what I love doing, which is to make music. And maybe outside music be a baddie in a movie, with an eye patch! [Laughs] Be some bad bitch!
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52