What is it about the surname Gray? No sooner had we got used to the fact that David is turning into a bona fide superstar when wham, bam and along came Macy!
Unless you have been living in the back-arse of nowhere for the past year, you will be at least somewhat familiar with the unique musical force that is Macy Gray. In fact, you ll probably have a copy of her astounding debut album, On How Life Is, somewhere in your possession. Or you will at least be on nodding terms with I Try , her |ber-single release from late last year.
It was that song more than anything else that pushed the six-foot tall, gangly soul singer with the distinctive voice into our lives. And what a voice? Compared with everyone from Marge Simpson to Aretha Franklin, there s no denying its originality.
I could just clear my throat and end my career, she once joked. Scratchy and soulful, grating and graceful, Gray is perhaps the first real soul singer since the genre s heyday in the seventies. On How Life Is is choc-full of soul, funk, pop and r n b, from the sweeping grandeur of The Letter to the sultry I Committed Murder .
It wasn t always so easy for Macy, though. Her first foray into the business we call show was an abortive rock album which never saw the light of day, and never will she now owns the rights to it.
A mother of three, part of 30-year-old Macy s success stems from the fact that she writes and sings from the heart: love, passion, sex, relationships. Like all the best songwriters, she writes from experience, her abortive marriage even cropping up on the album. When you pour your heart out like I try to do, all that shit comes out too, she told Q Magazine last year.
It is in the live arena that Macy Gray really comes into her own, though, as anyone who caught her show at Glastonbury will testify: this is one woman who gives it all on stage. Supported by a huge band that are as tight as the proverbial camel s arse in a sandstorm, the Mistress of Ceremonies stalks the stage like she was born to, as she explained in a recent interview: Playing live is always awesome: there s nothing like being on stage. The bigger the record gets the more fun the shows are because the audience is all into it.
Don t be too surprised if Macy Gray turns out to be the highlight of this year s Slane festival.