Corinne Bailey Rae's silky neo-soul sound comes from a musical journey down a rather scenic route. After enduring a childhood of sedate violin lessons and singing with the church choir, she did a 180 and formed a crunchy all-girl band, called Helen, whose bluesy tendencies bowed at the feet of Led Zeppelin, L7 and The Breeders. When the group split, she went to study at the University of Leeds, where, by chance, she took a job as a hat-check girl at a club whose musical offerings leaned toward jazz and soul. It was there that she absorbed a more sophisticated approach to music, and when the club was slow she took to sneaking onstage to perfect a new, more subtle and intoxicating sound – one that she maintains today.
Before breaking out big with her eponymous solo debut, Bailey Rae provided vocals for The New Mastersounds and Homecut Directive, two U.K. collectives. From there, she collaborated with Mark Hill of the British R&B duo The Artful Dodger on the track “Young and Foolish” (under the name The Stix).
Her sophomore studio effort has yet to materialize, but Bailey Rae remains busy. She released a live disc in 2007, and gave "I'm Losing You" to the Instant Karma Amnesty International benefit album; she reinterpreted the dark classic "River" on jazz master Herbie Hancock's River: The Joni Letters, a tribute to Joni Mitchell; and she tipped her hat to one of the Crescent City's finest with "One Night (Of Sin)" on the Goin' Home: A Tribute To Fats Domino disc.
Provenance: Leeds, England
Latest release: Live In London & New York (2007)
© 2007 Nigel Music Media LLC. Used by permission.
Corinne Bailey Rae
