Soul starlet soars despite surprising background

By MIKE HOULAHAN

If you know nothing about new soul sensation Joss Stone other than her music, you might expect her to be a gravel-voiced, whisky-gargling, 40 cigarette a day, black woman with a lot of hard-living behind her.

With Stone's great soul voice - a dark growl framed by a lifetime of listening to Aretha Franklin - it's not an unreasonable assumption to make...expect you couldn't be more wrong.

"It's mad today," Stone's light, airy, BBC-quality voice bubbles down the phone.

"There's been lots of things going on today. It's like that most days though. Sometimes it can get you down, but I'd rather be doing this than going to school I suppose."

Rather than being at the school of hard knocks, Stone really could still be in school - until a year ago the 16-year-old British white girl was a GSCE student in a small country town in Devon.

Her sudden rise to stardom in the United States would be a good story in its own right, but one which has added spice due to the fact she has bucked everyone's genre expectations to deliver an instant soul classic - a record which recently made the New Zealand top 10.

As she herself says, "I'm not what you expect, but I like that."

Stone's initial break came when she won an English TV talent quest singing Donna Summer's On The Radio, a performance which saw several British managers approach her.

However, the real Stone story began when US record executive Steve Greenberg saw a video of her singing Midnight Train To Georgia.

Despite his track record - Greenberg helped inflict Hanson upon an undeserving universe - the soul fan opted to place his protege with soul veterans rather than rush for quick dollars in the pop market.

Soul music veteran Betty Wright, a former teen star in her own right, was enlisted as Stone's minder as she was flown in to cut a rapid-fire live set of old soul songs - and an unexpected but canny cover of White Stripes Fell In Love With A Girl.

"Betty Wright helped out with lots of different things, not just my voice but helping me as a person," Stone says.

"She's not officially my vocal coach but she's there when I record a vocal and gives me lots of advice, so she's the closest thing I have. It's hard because I travel around a lot but sometimes she travels with me - she's lovely."

Stone's other minder is her mother Wendy, who keeps assiduous watch on her daughter's wellbeing - to the extent of postponing interviews by six hours to allow her to meet other commitments and get some rest.

"Oh my God yes," Stone laughs, confirming a close watch is kept on her.

"She's always trying to keep my feet on the ground but it's not just her - a lot of people do that. The drummer in my band is like that, Amy - the person who does all the marketing and promotion schedules... I choose not to surround myself with people who are constantly telling me I'm amazing because I'm not amazing all the time, and how will I ever improve if people don't point out my faults?"

Stone in fact is almost hyper critical of her own faults - perhaps a defence mechanism she has cultivated to avoid to getting carried away with what could otherwise be a quite overwhelming success story.

For example, she's quick to say she hasn't reached the point of realising her voice is as good as critics say it is.

"I think it's good, but most of the time I don't agree with people when they say I did a good job," she says.

"Sometimes I mess up at gigs and come back and people are saying 'You were amazing'. I'm my own worst critic.

"If I commented on my own record I'd be very negative, because everything I hear I hear its faults rather than what's good about it.

"It's what all singers are like I suppose."

With touring - Stone has toured the States and supported the likes of Simply Red and Sting - and recording, her voice is proving to be a changeable instrument she says.

"I think my range is different now. I can go lower now and a lot more husky as I grow older," she laughs.

"People say I sound older anyway, so I don't know what I'm going to sound like when I'm 20, or 50. That maybe needs some more work and some more control."

Some of that work has come in writing material for Stone's now much-anticipated second album. The precocious talent had already been writing her own songs prior to Soul Sessions, but of those 25-30 efforts maybe only six will make the final cut.

With recognition comes opportunity, and with stars such as Paul Weller and Lenny Kravitz offering to write with her there's likely to be a few collaborations which would have been nothing but schoolgirl dreams just months ago.

"Most of the record will be live," Stone says.

"We recorded some stuff not live before the Soul Sessions and I didn't like the sound of it as much. I wouldn't really want to record in any other way so I asked if we could do it that way again and we have. It feels much better and sounds much better."

After the album Stone will tour and hopes she will make it to New Zealand - she has friends living here and wants to visit.

In the meantime, while her peers prepare for further education or the workforce, Stone is starting to come to terms with the side effects of her chosen path... such as recognition from total strangers.

"It does happen occasionally now," Stone says.

"Sometimes people stare at me for no apparent reason and I'm like 'Oh my God, do I have something on my face?'. Then I realise they think they've recognised me but aren't quite sure - it's quite sweet.

"I'm not the biggest, most famous person in the world." Stone continues.

"I'm just trying to sing and get myself out there. What will be will be, and I'm not really rushing to make things happen - I'm just waiting to see what happens.

* Joss Stone: Soul Sessions is out now.

- NZPA