youlikewelike.com:

Minutes after meeting Leigh, she seems like a star. Having only released a very limited vinyl-only single, it's not an assumption based on real success but, despite the fact that her outlandishly sized sunglasses help the aesthetic, her presence is one that can't be forced.

A slight, blonde girl from Chester in the North West of England, you wouldn't pick her out as a reggae singer; but she is, from the top of her head to the soles of her feet.

"I always sang in choirs and things at primary school," she says. "But when I was 11, me and my family went to Spain on holiday and they had a talent show on the camp we were staying at.

"The prize was a foldaway bike, so I really wanted to win it. I was into Eternal at the time, so I sang I Am Blessed, a capella. It's a horrible song, but I won the contest. I was only 11, so I got all these things in my head that I wanted to be a popstar," she laughs, knowing how ridiculous it must have sounded at the time.

The real turning point for Leigh came when she went to high school and joined the school's jazz band. Within weeks she'd been promoted to lead singer, putting the noses of some of the older girls well out of joint. Undeterred, she gained invaluable experience touring Europe with the band in the summer holidays ("I cost my parents a fortune," she laughs), as well as developing an impressive stage craft during that time.

A management deal arrived when Leigh was 14, which saw her travelling from leafy Cheshire to deepest darkest London at weekends to record demos.

"Going to London all the time was how I got into reggae, apart from mum who likes reggae. My manager owned a club in Camberwell called Imperial Gardens where the Aba Shanti sound system rehearsed. So I'd be there sneaking in as they were smoking weed and playing reggae.

"Because of my voice sounding the way it does, it was always going to be the more soulful,
r 'n' b or jazzy kind of music that I went for," she says with typical confidence.

"I was doing that for years, though, and I got bored as there wasn't much I could do with it. Then a few years ago I just thought, 'Why don't I just do reggae?' It's my favourite type of music. It's what I always like to listen to - I've always loved it but I'd just never really worked out how to piece it together.You don't hear many new reggae bands."

Leigh then got a "really shitty" demo together that touched upon reggae
and lovers rock (a reggae sub-genre of UK origin), and began approaching
record labels. Eventually, she was signed to Virgin by the same A&R team who took Jamiroquai and Terence Trent D'Arby to Sony.

Fast forward a year or so from that point, and Leigh sits on the cusp of the big time. With comparisons to Joss Stone already coming in - one paper even called her Jah Stone, geddit? - the career path of the Devonian soul diva could well be followed by Leigh, although let's hope she doesn't swap her earthy Cheshire twang for a despicable LA drawl any time soon.

"Pigeonholing is easy, and we all do it, but I'm glad I'm getting compared to Joss Stone and Amy Winehouse rather than certain other people," she explains. "At least they are actually good. But I think my music is very different to other people's."

Newcomers will instantly notice how pretty Leigh is. Let's face it, she's smoking hot but don't be fooled into thinking that there is nothing to back up her cover girl looks. If there wasn't, why would living legends Sly and Robbie offer to produce her music?

As one of reggae's longest lasting and most respected production duos, they're in a position to turn anyone down, but in Leigh they heard something exciting, as did Futurecut and a handful of other prestigious production talent. Mad About The Boy is a joyous, laid-back ode to the confusion of love, while Burning features the aforementioned Aba Shanti in a glorious collaboration.

"I wrote that in 15 minutes, and I hated it at first," she says of the latter track. "Aba Shanti loved it though, which was great. I thought they'd hate what I'd done to it, but the reaction when I played it live made me think differently."

words: Andy Welch

download PDF/print

avaleigh.co.uk + myspace.com

Robert Reich + Shack + Twisted Charm + Matix + Jose Gonzales + Canon Blue + Remi Nicole + Biker Gangs + X Factor Jungle + Kyte + Four Tet + American Apparel + Fair Trials Abroad + Kissaway Trail + Asghar Bukhari + London Gangs + Fareshare + Queer Advertising + Emmy The Great + Honour Killings + Sideshow + Private Armies +
Kate, Leonardo & Sam + Gloria Cycles

Robyn Hitchcock interview...

Singer-songwriter Robyn Hitchcock (previously of The Soft Boys...more

South Coast interviews...

Packed full of great tunes, stories, graff', eccentric characters and dazzling live performances...more