GABBY YOUNG'S NO ORDINARY REDHEAD, SHE'S A BARBICAN-SINGING CIRCUS SWING-ER

GABBY Young sounds like she’s smiling over the phone.
Every story she tells has a happy ending and she sees the brightest side of the very darkest tales.
The eccentric flame-haired singer’s positive nature casts an effective veil over a history that could have ended her singing career before she even began.
At just 22, Gabby’s fledgling path was halted for a year as she fought thyroid cancer in her throat, while medics warned her she may lose her voice.

You wouldn’t know it now.
Gabby’s rich vocals are stronger than ever – so strong in fact that she, and her band Other Animals, share the bill with 10-piece ‘performance orchestra’ The Irrepressibles at The Barbican on Saturday for Disruption – a fashion and music performance inspired by the gallery’s exhibition Future Beauty: 30 Years of Japanese Fashion and the diversity of East London.
It is the culmination of a three-month project by 50 young people aged 14-19 working with the Barbican, London College of Fashion and Guildhall School of Music & Drama.

Purveyors of “circus swing”, Gabby Young and Other Animals are emerging from their underground lair as a live phenomena.
Said Gabby, who will be wearing a dress made entirely from newspapers: “We’ve definitely got a spectacle planned. We always try and do something different each show...There’ll be a bang and the end of our set.”
Look at her pictures and you’d never guess Gabby grew up “in the sticks” in Wiltshire, to a horsey life “my mother trained racehorses”, at times sharing a home with the Australian equestrian team.
She even went to boarding school.

Instead, Gabby rejected the outdoors in favour of singing and the piano.
She said: “From the start I rebelled against any kind of sport and always wanted to be the musician. We had a little upright pink piano and my sister and I would write songs. Whenever mum and dad had friends over, we’d insist on giving them a concert, make them queue outside and pay to see us. That’s probably my earliest musical memory.”
Her parents now run her label, while Gabby lives in Kentish Town with boyfriend Stephen Ellis, frontman of band Revere and dog Hobbes (named after the comic strip stuffed tiger).
She said: “I absolutely love north London. We live right next to Hampstead Heath and I’m obsessed with the place. I’ve lived in lots of different parts of London, west, south, Chelsea for a bit, which I didn’t like, but the moment I got up north I thought this is where London is for me. I love the creativeness, you can do your own thing, don’t have to worry about being judged, everyone seems helpful and friendly. I love all my neighbours.”

She met Stephen when still travelling from Wiltshire to play gigs at Monkey Chews.
She said: “I didn’t know many musicians. The other band on the bill was Revere, I’d never heard of them before and never seen a band that made me just want to follow them around. They blew me away. I remember seeing Stephen and thinking he’s so cool I want him to be my friend but now I live with him.”
As well as her music, Gabby’s become something of a fashion icon and writes a style blog as well as running pop-up store Gabbydashery.

She said: “Gabbydashery mainly has accessories, hairpieces, bags, everything we sell is something I’d wear or have on my wall, it’s all got to be inspired by or for the music. People expect me to have made the stuff but I’m not very good with a sewing machine and glue. My first ever art report said do not let Gabby near glitter or glue.”
Fashion is definitely an important element to Gabby’s persona.
“I’ve always loved dressing up and every time I did a gig I would make an effort because I never liked seeing bands standing around in their jeans. I love the spectacle behind big stage shows, love what Bjork wears, the fact she plays with her outfits when onstage and it becomes part of the theatre of it, that is really important for me.
“I’ve always loved vintage clothes from much further back. I’ve loved Victorian clothes for so long. I’ve got bright red hair but that’s not actually that different anymore because so do all the female artists out there so I’ve got to find a way to stand out.”
Her memories of being diagnosed with cancer are still raw but she’s grateful for what it brought: “It was a huge life-changing experience to be on a path with my band, knowing my goal and to have a huge stop sign on that. But I’m so thankful for it because everything that has happened to me that’s been positive has been almost a direct result from that. Moving to London was a catalyst – I had to change my life to do what I wanted. The most terrifying thing was the operation. To be told as a singer that you might lose your voice that is a fate worse than death in a way.”
She added: “I’ve written some material about that which I’m really proud of – Too Young to Die on the album is about it. It’s changed the way I think about absolutely everything in my life. I’m a lot happier because I feel I’ve got a get out of jail free card and a real chance to do something different and have a story that might help people through hard times.”

PALOMA'S BATHTIME REVELATIONS

“IS IT a girl?” Paloma Faith asks as the call is put through for our interview.
“I’m glad it’s a girl because I’m in the bath,” she says. “I was trying to rush and then I thought let’s take a gamble. It’s 50-50 chance it’s going to be a man and if it is I’ll slowly edge out of the bath and try not to make any water noises. They might think I was flirting or something.”
Paloma’s insuppressible personality is apparent from her first words.



The former Islington Green pupil is due to play a gala show of her collaboration with trumpeter/arranger/composer Guy Barker – Down at the End of Lonely Street – alongside a full orchestra at the Barbican on December 10.

She said: “The Barbican’s like the cultural centre of the area I was brought up in. As a kid I always saw it as somewhere quite posh where rich people go. Now I’m playing there it feels like a breakthrough.”

She says the show’s about loss and loneliness, adding: “There’s a few of my songs but mainly songs that have influenced me by the great queens of tragedy and torch singers.”
Renowned as a flamboyant performer, Paloma’s happily aware of her past limits.

“I wanted to perform from quite a young age but I knew I wasn’t very good. I was about 10 when I did my first dance performance. I loved the excitement and adrenaline but didn’t know what I was doing. When they went right I went left and when they went up I went down, I totally stood out. My mum said it was hilarious that I stood out like a sore thumb because I was wrong all the time.
“For years after, I had the enthusiasm but not the ability. I think people thought I was a bit of a laughing stock…but I guess I found my way.”

A choreographer once told her he’d have to give her a lead role as she was hypnotic but “not very good” and was doing something different to everyone else.
Realising she wasn’t going to be a dancer was a “big setback”, so she began singing in bars while studying theatre hoping to work behind the scenes.
But she began attracting attention for her voice.

“I started to do it to my own surprise because I hadn’t really sung that much. Because the people I admired were so amazing I put myself beneath them and didn’t feel good enough but through this last year touring this album I think my voice has improved so much. I’ve sort of learned on the job. In a way my voice is better now than when I recorded my album. When I listen to the album I think oh a bit shit but I now play live and people say I’m so much better live.”

Paloma’s style has often attracted the attention of the Fashion Police: “Sometimes I end up walking out in something I haven’t really thought about. I look at it in pictures and think what was I doing? I know it’s dressing up. I find it difficult to get dressed on a day off because I don’t actually remember what I think looks nice. I take pride in taking risks and being a bit funny with it. People put me in those columns “what was she thinking?” Well I wasn’t. When I’m serious and when I know I look good it’s vintage inspired stuff. I think I’m very good at dressing like a Hollywood starlet.”

SEE the second part of this interview here - Paloma Faith on moaning music moguls, cash-strapped students + old school teachers

PALOMA FAITH ON MOANING MUSIC MOGULS, CASH-STRAPPED STUDENTS AND HER OLD SCHOOL

SINGER Paloma Faith has praised the teachers at her former school for doing an incredible job in the face of adversity and thrown her support behind the recent student protests
Speaking from her bathtub, the eccentric performer – a former pupil of Islington Green School – also criticised wealthy music industry figures for complaining about suffering during the recession.


Paloma, who is due to play a gala show of her collaboration with trumpeter/arranger/composer Guy Barker – Down at the End of Lonely Street – alongside a full orchestra at the Barbican on December 10, said: “When you look at world news, I think we’re really well off, maybe not as well off as in the 80’s and maybe that’ll never happen again.

"From the small perspective of being in the music industry I work with a lot of people who were in the music business when they earned shedloads of money and now they’re all complaining. Well they look pretty well off to me, I’ll be honest. I think a lot of people are rich people complaining they’re not as rich, but they’re still rich.”

Paloma, who is working on her second album, took a minute to praise her former teachers at Islington Green School.
She said: “I had an amazing education there. It’s funny because at the time I did my exams it was one of the schools that had one of the worst reputations in the country but I have to say the teachers were incredible.”

Now a bestselling artist, Paloma recalled appearing in school productions but never scoring the coveted main role.
Recalling one production of Little Shop of Horrors, she said: “I was never one of the leads I was always one of the dancers because at that time I was really into dance.”

Paloma also took the opportunity to voice support for students protesting against the coalition government’s plans to increase university fees.
She said: “It’s a shame the (protests) went violent because it reflects badly on their argument. If they’re protesting and saying all this stuff about being the future, what kind of impression does that give if they’re smashing things up? It's a shame for the students that genuinely are the future and are wonderful and have a lot to contribute because it gets them down as well. But I understand their reasoning because I do think that kind of debt is really intimidating to people specially people from poorer backgrounds.”

She added: “To a person who’s working, £9k is not that bad but if you look at that figure from the perspective of someone who comes from nothing and whose mother and father never in their lives can conceive of £9k or let alone earn it then I think that figure can be seen as extremely threatening and intimidating. It’s really sad and awful. It's great that students are protesting. For years I came from a really non political generation."

It is not the first time Paloma has commented on the British education system in the Press.
She appeared on This Week alongside Michael Portillo to discuss education in October last year.

The singer confessed to looking forward to her Barbican show, a venue she admired when growing up.
She said: “It's always been this place that was like the cultural centre of the area I was brought up in. The Barbican was quite close so it feels quite exciting to be part of it.

As a kid growing up I always saw it as somewhere quite posh and where rich people go from the perspective of a young kid in Islington and Hackney. But now I’m playing there it feels like a breakthrough for me.”

SEE the first part of this interview here - Paloma's Bathtime Revelations