>> Amaree
bio: It’s the little things in life that make you happy. Breakfast in bed. Champagne tickling the tongue. Running barefoot across a green summer meadow. A call from friends because they’re missing you. The beauty of a sunset. Or Amaree’s debut album.
The London singer is no acoustic lightweight. And she enjoys life. If you sit opposite her, you’re immediately sent. Completely lost to all the charm that she exudes. And how the lady talks and gestures. And laughs. Amaree laughs so loud and in such a liberating way that you instantly have to join in even if you didn't understand what it is really about. The lady has not only charm but also wit and no end of energy. All attributes that are also reflected in her songs. Her songs are like life rafts in the ocean of formula radio – powerful shining points full of rock, pop, R&B and lots and lots of soul. And they are songs full of stories that the singer has for the most part experienced herself and put down on paper. Everyone should be able to find something in songs like “Loving This Fool,” “Something Special” and “Wrong Side of Love.” Emotionally honest cinema for the ears, in fact. “Love is not just the feeling of having butterflies in your stomach but also difficulties and the proper approach. Sometimes the line between love and hate is very fine. I would like to sing about that, that’s also got something to do with credibility.”
But let’s start from the beginning. Her family is of course to blame, as ever, for the fact that we can get hold of this wonderful debut album from this thoroughbred singer. Amaree grew up in the midst of West London’s ethnic and cultural variety. Her mother emigrated from Jamaica when she was barely six years old. The music in the home of course also had its influence. At home her mother listened to everything from reggae to soul and at her grandparents’ home (where she lived with her mother) they had a full-blown music-room in which her uncles and cousins experimented with their bands. “Musicians came and went. It was always really hectic at our place,” explains Amaree. “That had a great impact on me.” It was only a matter of time before Amaree experimented for herself with the most varied music styles.
Later she sang in a band called “West Row” but was unable to showcase her own personal material. “We played rock with a hard soul angle. That worked very well with my voice.” The band recorded songs, toured, even played at festivals like Glastonbury, had an impressive fan base – but something didn't feel quite right to Amaree. Major success eluded them and after several years they split.
Through her co-songwriter Kenny Yeomans, the singer then came into contact with the Hamburg producer Franz Plasa. Amaree travelled to Hamburg to meet Plasa in his legendary home studios – and she stayed. “I had always wanted to create my own style and my own sound,” says Amaree. “Franz was the first one who left me to it, who didn't force me into a straightjacket that didn’t fit and that I didn't want. We suited each other quite perfectly.”
But what is this typical Amaree sound? “I had always wanted to make a classic, timeless soulrock album that would still be thrilling people in years to come. That was the most important criterion of them all for me. If asked to describe my voice, I would say, it's quite smokey, with quite a rusty quality about it, almost as if I'd had a bowl of gravel for breakfast." Too many hours in too many bars may also have their benefits. Plasa himself describes working with Amaree as a stroke of luck: “She has an extraordinary and unique presence and with her voice she sounds like a blend of Millie Jackson, Skin from Skunk Anansie and Janis Joplin.”
For Amaree, writing new songs is not a necessary evil or a pain but a natural process. Sometimes a diary, sometimes therapy, but always fun. “Everytime when I’ve finished writing a song I feel freer somehow,” she said. Others have also acknowledged her writing talent, with major labels short listing her songs for their most successful international artists such as ex-Spice Girl Geri Halliwell and icon Kylie Minogue.
Amaree has taken many artists as role models and inspiration also comes from many other musicians. Tina Turner is among her all-time favourites as are Gladys Knight, Carole King and Sade. At the moment she is enjoying the albums from James Morrison, John Legend and Ray Lamontagne, with Bill Withers being one of her all time favourites. She has always loved the Eurythmics. “Their music is a mix of many different elements, a blend of their personalities, their environment and influences. Basically that is the best interpretation for my style, which is entirely my own. I also try to take the best of everything. The power of an Annie Lennox, combined with the songwriting of Carole King, the vocal rage of a Janis Joplin and the positive thinking of my mother – I think that would be it.” Amaree describes herself as ambitious and driven but not dogged. Things happen, that’s life. The main thing is to try to be positive, even if you make mistakes. Nobody’s perfect.”
Not perfect, true, but still extraordinary. In her person, her voice and her music – Amaree combines a large number of qualities in herself to great effect. With her energetic soul songs the lady not only provides a fantastically timeless atmosphere but she also has that so much sought-after quality of recognisability in her voice, with which you can pick out Amaree from a hundred others.
In her list of hobbies, Amaree also mentions “badminton.” What other pop star does that? One more reason to love this lady – not just for her music!
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