Louise Golbey is a regular on the live Soul & Jazz circuit in London, I stumbled across one of her songs by accident and her voice stopped me in my tracks.
Despite appearances at Glastonbury and some live shows at the BBC Louise is still relatively unknown in the UK. You’re unlikely to see her wearing a raw meat dress or on the front of Hello magazine, but that is one of the reasons we like her so much.
If, however one day she does grace the cover of Blues & Soul Magazine, it will be because of her hard work, dedication and talent. (And if that doesn’t work Louise, we know where there is a good butchers).
What made you want to become a singer?
I’ve always been surrounded by music, I come from a very musical family, my grandfather played violin, my uncle plays piano and violin, my mum sings light –opera, my dad plays every instrument under the sun and I play the piano. I guess I caught the performing bug very early on as I was going to dance classes at the age of 2 and was in my first show at the age of 6 with my mum at our local theatre!
But at home we listened to a lot of soul and Motown (my parents’ record collection) and my brother got me into Hip Hop when I was very young as he used to play De La Soul and Salt N’ Pepper all the time!
Do you write all your own stuff?
Yes I do.. I’ve written most of my tracks on my own and also co-write tracks too with different producers or writers.. I always write the lyrics even on co-writes as lyrics are very personal to me..
How would you describe your style?
Soul with a twist of jazz!
Who are your musical heroes / influences?
Vocally my all time hero is Ella Fitzgerald, her voice was beautiful and the way she used it was like an instrument. Incredible control and range. Amazing. Currently I really admire Jamelle Monae – her voice is incredible – it almost sounds operatic at times.. and John Legend is my ideal person I’d love to duet with! I think our voices would blend really well together!
I love the video for ‘Sea and Me’, who came up with the concept?
Thank you! I actually thought of the concept. I created all the puppets and all the artwork: it is a little bit ‘Blue Peter’ -but I wanted it to be quirky and childlike as it is about the hometown I grew up in. I didn’t want to do an obvious video of me walking by the sea, black and white footage – looking whistfully out to the sea you know, so decided it needed something quirky.
My friends helped me do the puppeting on the day and then with some big help from Andy Schofield and James Everitt – we used a proper camera and helped visualise the way it was filmed and edited.. it was pretty much done in one take though!
Is there anyone you would like to collaborate with?
John Legend! OOh and Justin timberlake.. mainly because I’m a dancer and would love to do a music video where I dance with JT.
Who would you love to support on tour?
Beyonce, She is my idol. I think she is so hardworking and talented and a real inspiration to young girls and aspiring performers. she really deserves the success she has.
Stay tuned to Flush the Fashion for updates on new stuff from Louise. You can also get our updates via email. Click here to activate.
For information on Louise’s releases and live performances (and her ‘Sea and Me’ video) visit www.louisegolbey.com
Photo by Ruth Roxanne Board.
You can also look out for more news and info on Louise on Flush the Fashion, get our updates via email. Click here to activate.
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