Corinne Bailey Rae
(born Corinne Jacqueline Bailey
on 26 February 1979) is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist who released her eponymous debut album Corinne Bailey Rae
in February 2006.
Rae was named the number-one predicted breakthrough act of 2006 in an annual BBC poll of music critics, Sound of 2006. [1] She became only the fourth female British act in history to have her first album debut at number one. Rae was nominated for Grammy Awards and BRIT Awards, and has won two MOBO Awards and an Album Of The Year Grammy for her work as an featured artist in Herbie Hancock's River: The Joni Letters
. Rae was married to fellow musician, Jason Rae from 2001 until his death in 2008. Her career has been on hiatus mostly since then, except for entering the studio to record with soul musician Al Green for his album Lay It Down
.
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CORINNE BAILEY RAE TICKETS
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Early years
Childhood
Rae was born in
Leeds to a
Kittitian father and an
English mother as the eldest of three daughters
Rhea Bailey who is an actress and her other sister
Denise. She endured racist taunts on a regular basis as a child; "My sisters and I were different and people used to say, 'Ah, aren't they cute, the little chocolate children', and "look at their hair". "I know they were only being cute but it was over the top. Then people from other schools would shout,
Iraqi and more often '
Paki' (a commonly used racist term in the UK) to me because it was the most common racist insult of the time. 'At least if you're going to do it, get it right,' I used to shout back, 'But my dad isn't from Pakistan, he's from St Kitts—so there!'"
[2]
Rae began her musical career at school where she studied classical
violin before she turned her attention to singing: "I started off singing in
church, I suppose, but people think it must have been a
gospel church because of the whole, you know, black assumption", she says in reference to her multiracial background. "But it wasn't gospel at all, it was just your regular
Brethren church, very middle-class, where we would sing these harmonies every Sunday. It was always my favourite part of the service, the singing."
[3]
Rae later transferred to a
Baptist church, where the choir would sing traditional
hymns, and
Primal Scream tunes. "We changed the words though", Rae states on her website. "We didn't want to offend the regular churchgoers, now did we?"
Performing in church broadened Rae's musical horizons, and her love for making music was solidified after a local youth leader offered to buy her an
electric guitar. In her mid-teens, she became obsessed with
rock legends
Led Zeppelin. "I loved that band during my teens; I wanted, somehow, to follow in their footsteps, and to create music of my own."
Rae formed an all-female
indie group called Helen, which was inspired by similar acts such as
Veruca Salt and
L7. "It was the first time I'd seen women with guitars. They were kinda sexy—but
feminist. I wanted to be like that, at the front of something."
[4]
The group raised eyebrows on several fronts; in the white male-dominated world of indie music, they were an all-female group fronted by a mixed-race singer from Leeds. The moniker "Helen" also drew attention, albeit for not all the right reasons: "What can I say? We were 15 years old, and thought that Helen was a cheeky, indie kind of thing to do. It seemed clever at the time. Admittedly, it seems less so now".
The group played many gigs around Leeds and eventually became the first indie act to be signed to
heavy metal record label
Roadrunner Records, home to acts such as
Slipknot, in 1995. The venture proved to be short-lived however after the bassist became pregnant and the group disbanded. "[Was I] Disappointed? I was gutted! I had no idea what to do next".
Rae has often stated that she is a proud
Leeds United A.F.C. fan.
University life
After the disappointment of Helen, Rae went on to attend the
University of Leeds where she studied
English Literature, graduating in 2000. While at University, she began work as a hat check girl on an evening in her local
jazz club. Permitted to sing on stage with the jazz band when business was slow, it was there that she discovered a different type of music that sent her on a different musical path: "I kept hearing this jazz and
soul stuff and I realized I loved music too".
Music career
In the three years after her marriage, Rae began working on solo material—this time steering away from her indie past and embarking on a more "soulful" path. She collaborated with Leeds-based
funk group
The New Mastersounds on the track "Your Love Is Mine", featured on their 2003 album
Be Yourself
, released via One Note Records. The following year she again worked with another Leeds-based group, , on the song "Come the Revolution", which was the first single from the group's debut album.
In 2004, Rae got a breakthrough when she was signed by and then approached by
Craig David's mentor
Mark Hill, from the duo
The Artful Dodger, to appear on his new album
better luck next time
under his new alias,
The stiX. The resulting collaboration, "Young and Foolish", was released in April 2005 and brought Rae to the attention of the major record label bosses. Rae released her debut single, "
Like a Star", in November 2005 and her first album,
Corinne Bailey Rae
, in February 2006. In September 2006, Rae scooped two awards at the UK's
MOBO Awards: "Best UK Newcomer" and "Best UK Female". Rae recorded a live session at
Abbey Road Studios in July 2006 for
Live from Abbey Road
.
Rae also received three nominations at the
2007 Grammy Awards:
Record of the Year,
Song of the Year (both for "
Put Your Records On"), and
Best New Artist. During the ceremony, she performed "Like a Star" and joined
John Legend and
John Mayer in a collaborative performance, providing accompanying vocals to Legend's "Coming Home" and Mayer's "
Gravity".
[5]
Personal life
Jason Rae
It was at university that she met Jason Rae, whom she eventually married in 2001 at age twenty-two. "I was Corinne Bailey. I added on Rae, my husband's name, when I got married. There's no hyphen; stops it being posh!".
[6] Born in 1976, Jason Rae was a
Scottish musician, originally hailing from
Aberdeen, who played
saxophone for the eight-piece group Haggis Horns. The group has performed with
Amy Winehouse,
[7] Lily Allen,
Mark Ronson,
[8] Nightmares On Wax and Corinne Bailey Rae herself.
[9] Rae had recorded with Bailey Rae,
The New Mastersounds and
Martina Topley-Bird (
Quixotic
).
[10]
Jason Rae was found dead on 22 March, 2008 in a flat in the
Hyde Park area of Leeds. A pathologist report noted the possible cause of death as a "suspected
drug overdose". A post-mortem examination on the musician's body was found to be inconclusive.
[11] It was reported that Bailey Rae was not in the flat at the time of his death.
[12] A 32 year-old man was arrested under suspicion of dealing recreational drugs to the musician but has since been released on bail.
[13] [14] In December 2008, Leeds Coroner's Court gave a verdict of
death by misadventure, and stated that Rae died of an accidental overdose of
methadone and alcohol. The
West Yorkshire Police also cleared Rae's friend James Sheasby, in whose flat Rae died, of providing Rae with the methadone.
[15]
Other activities and appearances
- Several songs from Rae's debut album comprise the soundtrack to the 2006 film Venus
. Rae is co-credited by the filmmakers for the score.
- Rae was the musical guest on the 7 October 2006 episode of Saturday Night Live
with the host being Jaime Pressly. She performed "Put Your Records On" and "Like a Star". She also appeared on Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
on the episode "B-12", which aired on 27 November 2006, with Howie Mandel. She performed "Like a Star" and "Trouble Sleeping".
- Rae performed on Radio 1 Live Lounge with the songs "Like a Star", and a cover version of Editors' "Munich" and a cover version of Justin Timberlake's "SexyBack".
- Recorded John Lennon's "I'm Losing You" for Make Some Noise, Amnesty International's music venture. The song was also released on the 2007 John Lennon tribute album, "Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur."
- On 7 July 2007 Rae performed at the UK leg of Live Earth at Wembley Stadium, London.
- Recorded with Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, and other well-known jazz musicians Joni Mitchell's "River" for Herbie Hancock's September 2007 Joni Mitchell tribute album "River: The Joni Letters". At the 2008 Grammy Awards, the album won Album of the Year and Best Contemporary Jazz Album. She recorded a live session of "River" with Hancock at Abbey Road Studios in for Live from Abbey Road for Channel 4 which was broadcast on Series 2.
- The song I'd Like To from Rae's debut album was featured in the soundtrack for the movie He's Just Not That Into You (2009).
Discography
;Studio albums
- 2006: Corinne Bailey Rae
- 2010: Acoustic Love
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;DVDs
- 2007: Live in London & New York
;Concert tours
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Awards and nominations
| Year
| Result
| Award
| Category
| Nominated Work
|
| 2006
| Nominated
| BET Awards
| BET J Cool Like Dat Award
| General
|
| Nominated
| MTV Europe Music Awards
| Best UK & Ireland Act
| General
|
| Nominated
| MTV Woodie Awards
| International Woodie (Favorite International Artist)
| General
|
| Nominated
| UK Festival Music Awards
| Best Urban Act
| General
|
| Nominated
| Premios 40 Principales
| Mejor Artista Nuevo Internacional
| General
|
| Nominated
| MOBO Awards
| Best Song
| Put Your Records On
|
| Won
| Best UK Female
| General
|
| Won
| Best UK Newcomer
| General
|
| Won
| MOJO Awards
| Best New Act
| General
|
| Won
| Q Awards
| Best New Act
| General
|
| 2007
| Nominated
| Grammy Awards
| Best New Artist
| General
|
| Nominated
| Record of the Year
| Put Your Records On
|
| Nominated
| Song of the Year
|
| Nominated
| BET Awards
| Best New Artist
| General
|
| Nominated
| Best Female R&B Artist
| General
|
| Nominated
| BRIT Award
| Best British Single
| Put Your Records On
|
| Nominated
| British Female Artist
| General
|
| Nominated
| British Breakthroug Act
| General
|
| Nominated
| Teen Choice Awards
| Best Female Breakthrough Artist
| General
|
| Nominated
| ECHO Awards
| International Newcomer of the Year
| General
|
| Nominated
| Ivor Novello Awards
| PRS Most Performed Work
| General
|
| Nominated
| MOBO Awards
| Best UK Female
| General
|
| Nominated
| Image Awards
| Outstanding Album
| Corinne Bailey Rae
|
| Nominated
| Outstanding Female Artist
| General
|
| Won
| Outstanding New Artist
| General
|
| Won
| Music Week Awards
| International Marketing Campaign of the Year
| General
|
| Won
| European Border Breakers Awards
| United Kingdom
| General
|
| 2008
| Nominated
| Grammy Awards
| Song of the Year
| Like a Star
|
| Won
| Album of the Year
| River: The Joni Letters
|
| Won
| ASCAP Awards
| Song of the Year
| Put Your Record On
|
| Nominated
| Urban Music Awards
| Best Neo Soul Act
| General
|
| Won
| BIM Pop Awards
| Song of the Year
| Put Your Record On
|
References
- Sound of 2006: The Top 10
- Corinne's Bully Rage
- The official Corinne Bailey Rae site
- 'I was speechless, just squeaking!'
- Stevie: Please Keep Listening, Boomers
- "I was speechless, just squeaking!"
- Amy Winehouse vows to quit drugs after the death of Corinne Bailey Rae’s husband
- A D.J. Segues to His Other Job, His Band Close at Hand
- Tributes for Bailey Rae's husband, ''BBC News'', 24 March 2008.
- Jason Rae on MSN Music, MSN.
- Bailey Rae's husband found dead
- Singer's husband dies of suspected overdose
- Husband of singer Corinne Bailey Rae dead
- Corinne Bailey Rae's husband 'found dead'
- Overdose Killed Singer's Husband BBC, December 22, 2008