Sunday Diva/Three From The Hip: Lisa Stansfield

Sunday Diva/Three From The Hip:

Lisa Stansfield

In my own personal big gay church, there is a wing dedicated to what can only be described as...The True Divas. These are ones that may do many things in life, but from the moment they opened their mouths to sing they became the one thing they were meant to become: a true diva.

One such soulful beauty?

Lisa Stansfield.

It seemed that she came on the scene a fully-realized blue-eyed soul dream. 

But there's a bit more to the story. After winning a season on Star Search, she made various television appearances, eventually forming a band with a school chum (whom she would marry in 1998), Blue Zone. When a song by another group, prominently featuring her vocals, became a huge hit - suddenly the focus was back on her.

From there, her first hit was heard around the world and her life was never the same.

Beauty was but one of her many assets - above all else, there was that voice, the kind made for the bedroom, the kind which makes one melt. 

She took over radio. She took over the clubs. She won our hearts and souls with note number one...

Soon she was singing along the side of folks like George Michael and Queen - more than holding her own. 

Through it all she did her best to remain true to herself, to the music, her music.

But inside? She began to fear what she'd become. The time between albums grew. The chase took its toll and this siren... quietly bowed out.

She dabbled in acting, doing a film here and there.

Ten years would pass... and when she did finally reappear, the magic was still there and the world welcomed her once again with open arms. 

Now? It's all on her terms. 

Terms a grateful world accepts gladly. 

The gospel according to her?

Well, here are three from the hip, dropping from her lips.

The topic? Freedom And Fame

"There was a period in music that didn't suit what I did. I didn't fit in."

"You have to say no to a lot of people and when a lot of people are telling you what you're doing is a bit rubbish you just have to have the courage to say 'no it isn't' and believe in it."

"It's always been the same from a long time ago, it's people with promises and people dangling carrots and when you're young and impressionable, and ambitious, you want to believe them. I was always lucky because there was always part of me that didn't believe these people."

"There are lots of artists I respect and admire."

"I do admire a lot of artists now who are completely multi-faceted - they're doing seven different jobs all at once and it doesn't seem to faze them whatsoever. It just astonishes me completely and I have nothing but admiration for them."

"You can't have artistic freedom if you have to think about seven different aspects of your own job all the time. It must be very, very exhausting."

"Business people want things to be safe but that's rubbish to me. In music nothing should be safe."

"We never want to toe the line."

     

"To me to singing is like a freedom. It's a very therapeutic thing. It's incredible. I can just lose myself. It's sort of like meditation."

"I was probably about four when I really wanted to start singing."

"I've always been very emotional when I sing."

"For me, learning how to sing was just like learning how to speak."

"The way I sing comes from the music I listened to when I was younger, from black American R&B singers."

"I was the first white British woman to reach No 1 on the R&B chart - the American black music chart."

"I think I popped out of the womb singing Diana Ross."

"The first writers I knew about were Motown's Holland-Dozier-Holland."

"My mum used to listen to Motown. Diana Ross was my first singing teacher, really. I'd just sing along all the time."

"Singers like Gladys Knight are mostly responsible for how I learned to sing."

"When all my friends were into punk, I'd be singing versions of soul ballads. I thought, 'Oh my God, I don't want them to know I'm doing this.' But I really enjoyed singing those songs."

"I always really loved soul music but all my friends were into the new romantic scene. I'd go to new romantic clubs and then go home and listen to soul music. I was sort of ashamed of listening to disco and soul music!"

"I think that if you hear music young, whatever music you hear influences you. I'm white, but I've been influenced by black music."

"You don't hear that much about me being a white and singing soul music in England, but I get the feeling that in America it's really a big thing. It's like, 'God, look at the color of her skin.'"

"If you are a soul singer, you are a soul singer. If you are a heavy metal singer, then you are a heavy metal singer. What's color got to do with it? I don't go around thinking, 'I sing soul music and I'm white.' I just sing the way I feel."

 

"I started to sing professionally when I was about 13 or 14."

"I was really skinny and I had greasy hair and I was knock-kneed. There's something still in me that's like that, and I catch myself, you know when you're walking or something, and you think, 'Oh no, you're still that drippy person.'"

"I'm not the sort of person who if everyone thinks you're fabulous you thrive on it."

"People compliment me and if I ignore them, it doesn't mean I'm rude. It just means I'm embarrassed."

"I knew I'd made it when I was sitting on the bus into Rochdale and there was an old man listening to one of my songs. It was fantastic."

"I didn't want to be famous, I just wanted to sing."

"The fame thing made me run - it got out of hand and I needed to go away."

"I always remember when I first started out and first became a little bit famous, I went to a celebrity party. For me it was really intimidating."

"Fame made me insecure and insular. I wanted to run away from being me."

"I gave up everything and nearly became a farmer, walking around in headscarf and wellies for ten years to find my confidence again."

"People thought I disappeared, but I never went away. Music has always been a priority."

All Around The World - Lisa Stansfield

Change - Lisa Stansfield

So Be It - Lisa Stansfield

And one last parting shot...

"You know that something is good but you never really know how good. You always underestimate how much of an impact something is going to have."

"People get trapped sometimes and they don't feel they have a voice. And if you can in some way help someone by writing a song, it's really lovely."

"People say to me about my music 'it got me through college, it saved my marriage, it helped me to come out.' It's wonderful to be part of someone's life in a big way."