Corinne Bailey Rae

Corinne Bailey Rae
Corinne Bailey Rae at Divan du Monde, Paris, January 2009
Background information
Birth name	Corinne Jacqueline Bailey
Born	February 26, 1979 (1979-02-26) (age 31) Leeds, West Yorkshire, England
Genres	Soul, pop, R&B
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, guitarist
Instruments	Vocals, guitar
Years active	2005 – present
Labels	EMI, Capitol
Website	www.corinnebaileyrae.net
Notable instruments
Gibson Hummingbird[1]

Corinne Bailey Rae (born Corinne Jacqueline Bailey on 26 February 1979) is a British singer-songwriter and guitarist from Leeds, who released her debut album Corinne Bailey Rae in February 2006. Bailey Rae was named the number-one predicted breakthrough act of 2006 in an annual BBC poll of music critics, Sound of 2006.^[2] She became only the fourth female British act in history to have her first album debut at number one. Bailey Rae was nominated for Grammy Awards and BRIT Awards, and has won two MOBO Awards and an Album Of The Year Grammy and Best Contemporary Jazz Album for her work as a featured artist in Herbie Hancock's River: The Joni Letters. Bailey Rae was married to fellow musician Jason Rae from 2001 until his death in 2008. Bailey Rae released her second album, The Sea on 26 January 2010, after a hiatus of nearly two years. Tracks on the new album have been produced by Steve Brown and also Steve Chrisanthou (who produced her debut album in 2006).^[3][4] She has sold 4 million albums, with her two albums combined, worldwide. Bailey Rae was nominated for the 2010 Mercury Prize for Album of the Year for The Sea.

Early years

Childhood

Bailey Rae was born in Leeds to a black Kittitian father and a white English mother as the oldest of three daughters, including Candice Bailey and actress Rhea Bailey.

Bailey 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."^[5]

Bailey Rae later transferred to a Baptist church, where the youth leader was coaching rock bands in the local high school. The church young people wrote their own worship songs and sang covers by the likes of Primal Scream. "We changed the words though", Bailey Rae states on her website. "We didn't want to offend the regular churchgoers, now did we?"^[5] She recorded two albums with the youth group under the name of Revive.^[6]

Performing in church broadened Bailey Rae's musical horizons, and her love for making music was solidified after the church youth leader offered to lend her the money for her first guitar. In her mid-teens, she was highly influenced by Lenny Kravitz, and through him she discovered rock legends Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin. "I loved that band during my teens; I wanted, somehow, to follow in their footsteps, and to create music of my own."^[5]

Bailey Rae formed an all-female (barring the drummer) 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."^[7]

The group raised eyebrows on several fronts; in the white male-dominated world of indie music, they were a mainly 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".^[5]

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".

University life

Bailey Rae studied English Literature at the University of Leeds where she graduated 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".

Marriage

Corinne Bailey met Scottish-born Jason Rae in a jazz club in Leeds where she had a part-time job as a cloakroom attendant;^[8] they got married in 2001 at age of twenty-two and Bailey changed her name to Bailey Rae.^[9] Jason Rae (born in 1976), a musician, played saxophone for the eight-piece group called Haggis Horns,^[10] and had recorded with Bailey Rae The New Mastersounds and Martina Topley-Bird (Quixotic) albums. On 22 March 2008, Jason Rae was found dead in a flat in the Hyde Park area of Leeds.^{[11][12][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.^[15]

Music career

2004–2008: Career music development

In the three years after she got married, Bailey 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, Homecut Directive, on the song "Come the Revolution", which was the first single from the group's debut album.

Corinne Bailey Rae performing live at the V Festival on 18 August 2007

In 2004, Bailey Rae got a breakthrough when she was signed by Global Talent Publishing 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 Bailey Rae to the attention of the major record label bosses.

Bailey Rae released her debut single, "Like a Star", in November 2005 and her first album, Corinne Bailey Rae, in February 2006. It debuted at number one in the UK and entered the top ten of the U.S.Billboard 200, peaking at number four and spending 71 weeks in the chart from 2006 to 2008. According to Nielsen SoundScan, the album sold 1.9 million copies in the United States alone, the biggest selling album by a British artist in the United States.^[16]

The lead single, "Like a Star" became a hit in the UK and U.S., and sold over 327,000 U.S. downloads. Follow-up single "Put Your Records On", her biggest hit to date, rose to number two in the UK, and sold over 945,000 U.S. downloads. "Trouble Sleeping" made the top forty, and "I'd Like To", the top seventy. In the middle of 2006, Bailey Rae embarked on her first international tour through Europe and North America with singer R&B, John Legend, playing 55 shows including the festivals Rock in Rio Lisboa 2 and Live Earth. In early April 2006, Corinne Bailey Rae was certified 2x platinum by the BPI^[17] and platinum by the RIAA.^[18] In September 2006, Bailey Rae scooped two awards at the UK's MOBO Awards: "Best UK Newcomer" and "Best UK Female". Bailey Rae recorded a live session at Abbey Road Studios in July 2006 for Live from Abbey Road.

Bailey 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".^[19] The following year Like a Star was nominated for a Grammy for Song of the Year. Bailey Rae won in two categories for Album of the Year and Best Contemporary Jazz Album for her collaboration on River: The Joni Letters. During the American and European tour Bailey Rae recorded her first DVD with the title Live in London & New York. The DVD was filmed in London and the bonus CD was recorded in New York. Several songs from Bailey Rae's debut album comprise the soundtrack to the 2006 film Venus. Bailey Rae is co-credited by the filmmakers for the score.

2009–present: The Sea

Corinne Bailey Rae released her new album titled The Sea on 26 January 2010.^[20] The album was released after a gap of two years following the death of her husband Jason Rae.^[21] Lead single I'd Do It All Again premiered on 25 November in 2009 on the Jools Holland program Later.^[22] Follow up single "Closer" will be added to Smooth Jazz Radio on 25 January, Urban AC on 1 February and AC radio in late February. The album's second single "Paris Nights and New York Mornings" will go to Triple A radio on 15 February.^[23][24]

Other activities and appearances

• Bailey 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".
• Bailey Rae performed on Radio 1 Live Lounge with the songs "Like a Star", 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 Bailey 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 Bailey Rae's debut album was featured in the soundtrack for the movie He's Just Not That Into You (2009).
• Bailey Rae is the Special Ambassador for the charity CORD.^[25]
• Bailey Rae is the central ambassador for International water and Sanitation charity, Pump Aid
• The music Like a Star, is part of the soundtracks of several films, series and soap opera, like Cashmere Mafia, 27 Dresses, Men in Trees, Nancy Drew, Perfect Stranger, Medium, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Venus, Grey's Anatomy, and Sete Pecados.
• In the film Venus, six songs from the debut album were included on the soundtrack of the film, which are "I'd Like To", "Another Rainy Day", "Choux Pastry Heart", "Put Your Records On", " Like a Star", " Breathless".
• On June 2, 2010 Bailey Rae appeared with Herbie Hancock, singing Blackbird in a concert honoring (Sir) Paul McCartney in the East Room at the White House.^[26]

Discography

Awards and nominations

Kickers Urban Music Awards 2007

• Best Neo-Soul Act – Nominated
• Best Crossover Chart Act – Nominated

Notes

"Put Your Records On" was featured on the Parenthood (television soundtrack) in August, 2010.

References

External links

• theartsdesk.com interview 2010 [4]

• Official website
• Corinne Bailey Rae at Allmusic
• Corinne Bailey Rae at the Internet Movie Database
• Corinne Bailey Rae discography at MusicBrainz
• Corinne Bailey Rae interview by Pete Lewis, 'Blues & Soul' February 2010
• musicOMH.com interview
• The Guardian interview 2005
• The Guardian interview 2009
• HiphopRnbSoul.com Audio Interview
• aol.co.uk videos from AOL Sessions, live performances, official releases and interviews
• Works by or about Corinne Bailey Rae in libraries (WorldCat catalog)