Corinne Bailey Rae
Corinne Bailey Rae at the Mojo Awards 2009 11 June 2009 Photo: Simon Fernandez
Background information
Birth name	Corinne Jacqueline Bailey
Born	26 February 1979 (1979-02-26) (age 31) Leeds, West Yorkshire, England
Genres	Soul, R&B, jazz, blues
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, guitarist
Instruments	Vocals, guitar
Years active	2005 – present
Labels	EMI, Capitol
Website	www.corinnebaileyrae.net
Notable instruments
Gibson Hummingbird1

Corinne Bailey Rae (born Corinne Jacqueline Bailey on February 26, 1979) is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist who released her debut album Corinne Bailey Rae in February 2006. Rae was named the number-one predicted breakthrough act of 2006 in an annual BBC poll of music critics, Sound of 2006.² She became only the fourth female British act in history to have her first album debut at number one.^{citation needed} Rae was nominated for Grammy Awards and BRIT Awards, and has won two MOBO Awards and an Album Of The Year Grammy and Best Contemporary Jazz Album for her work as an featured artist in Herbie Hancock's River: The Joni Letters. Rae was married to fellow musician Jason Rae from 2001 until his death in 2008. Rae released her second album, The Sea on 26 January 2010, after a hiatus of nearly two years. Tracks on the new album have been produced by Steve Brown and also Steve Chrisanthou (who produced her debut album in 2006).³⁴

Early years

Childhood

Rae was born in Leeds to a black Kittitian father and a white English mother as the oldest of three daughters, including Candice Bailey and actress Rhea Bailey. She endured racist taunts on a regular basis as a child; "My sisters and I were different and people used to say, 'Ah, aren't they cute, the little chocolate children', and "look at their hair". "I know they were only being cute but it was over the top. Then people from other schools would shout, Iraqi and more often 'Paki' (a commonly used racist term in the UK) to me because it was the most common racist insult of the time. 'At least if you're going to do it, get it right,' I used to shout back, 'But my dad isn't from Pakistan, he's from St Kitts—so there!'"⁵

Rae began her musical career at school where she studied classical violin before she turned her attention to singing: "I started off singing in church, I suppose, but people think it must have been a gospel church because of the whole, you know, black assumption", she says in reference to her multiracial background. "But it wasn't gospel at all, it was just your regular Brethren church, very middle-class, where we would sing these harmonies every Sunday. It was always my favourite part of the service, the singing."⁶

Rae later transferred to a Baptist church, where the youth leader was coaching rock bands in the local high school. The church young people wrote their own worship songs and sang covers by the likes of Primal Scream. "We changed the words though", Rae states on her website. "We didn't want to offend the regular churchgoers, now did we?"⁶ She recorded two albums with the youth group under the name of Revive.⁷

Performing in church broadened Rae's musical horizons, and her love for making music was solidified after the church youth leader offered to lend her the money for her first guitar. In her mid-teens, she and a friend became obsessed with Lenny Kravitz, and through him she discovered rock legends Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin. "I loved that band during my teens; I wanted, somehow, to follow in their footsteps, and to create music of my own."⁶

Rae formed an all-female (barring the drummer) indie group called Helen, which was inspired by similar acts such as Veruca Salt and L7. "It was the first time I'd seen women with guitars. They were kinda sexy—but feminist. I wanted to be like that, at the front of something."⁸

The group raised eyebrows on several fronts; in the white male-dominated world of indie music, they were an all-female group fronted by a mixed-race singer from Leeds. The moniker "Helen" also drew attention, albeit for not all the right reasons: "What can I say? We were 15 years old, and thought that Helen was a cheeky, indie kind of thing to do. It seemed clever at the time. Admittedly, it seems less so now".⁶

The group played many gigs around Leeds and eventually became the first indie act to be signed to heavy metal record label Roadrunner Records, home to acts such as Slipknot, in 1995. The venture proved to be short-lived however after the bassist became pregnant and the group disbanded. "[Was I] Disappointed? I was gutted! I had no idea what to do next".

University life

After the disappointment of Helen, Rae went on to attend the University of Leeds where she studied English Literature, graduating in 2000. While at University, she began work as a hat check girl on an evening in her local jazz club. Permitted to sing on stage with the jazz band when business was slow, it was there that she discovered a different type of music that sent her on a different musical path: "I kept hearing this jazz and soul stuff and I realized I loved music too".^{citation needed}

Music career

2004–2008: Career music development

In the three years after she got married, Rae began working on solo material—this time steering away from her indie past and embarking on a more "soulful" path. She collaborated with Leeds-based funk group The New Mastersounds on the track "Your Love Is Mine", featured on their 2003 album Be Yourself, released via One Note Records. The following year she again worked with another Leeds-based group, Homecut Directive, on the song "Come the Revolution", which was the first single from the group's debut album.

Corinne Bailey Rae performing live at the V Festival on 18 August 2007

In 2004, Rae got a breakthrough when she was signed by Global Talent Publishing and then approached by Craig David's mentor Mark Hill, from the duo The Artful Dodger, to appear on his new album better luck next time under his new alias, The stiX. The resulting collaboration, "Young and Foolish", was released in April 2005 and brought Rae to the attention of the major record label bosses. Rae released her debut single, "Like a Star", in November 2005 and her first album, Corinne Bailey Rae, in February 2006 it debuted at number one in the UK and stayed in the top ten of the U.S.Billboard 200, peaking at number four and was 71 weeks in the chat between the years 2006 to 2008, according to Nielsen SoundScan, according to Nielsen SoundScan, the album sold 1.9 million copies in the United States alone, being the biggest selling album by a British artist in the United States.⁹ The lead single, "Like a Star", became her hit in UK and U.S., and sold over 327,000 U.S. downloads, Follow-up singles "Put Your Records On", biggest hit to date when it rose to number two in the UK, and sold over 945,000 U.S. downloads. "Trouble Sleeping" made the top forty, and "I'd Like To", the top seventy. In the middle of 2006, Bailey Rae embark on their first world tour, through Europe and North America, playing at various festivals including Rock in Rio Lisboa 2 and Live Earth, and after a year-long tour to end with 55 shows performed. In early April 2006, Corinne Bailey Rae was certified 2x platinum by the BPI¹⁰ and platinum by the RIAA.¹¹. In September 2006, Rae scooped two awards at the UK's MOBO Awards: "Best UK Newcomer" and "Best UK Female". Rae recorded a live session at Abbey Road Studios in July 2006 for Live from Abbey Road.

Rae also received three nominations at the 2007 Grammy Awards: Record of the Year, Song of the Year (both for "Put Your Records On"), and Best New Artist. During the ceremony, she performed "Like a Star" and joined John Legend and John Mayer in a collaborative performance, providing accompanying vocals to Legend's "Coming Home" and Mayer's "Gravity"¹², The following year Like a Star was nominated for a Grammy for Song of the Year and Bailey Rae won in two categories for Album of the Year and Best Contemporary Jazz Album for her collaboration on River: The Joni Letters. Then during the American and European tour Bailey Rae recorded her first DVD with the title Live in London & New York. The DVD was filmed in London and the bonus CD was recorded in New York. Several songs from Rae's debut album comprise the soundtrack to the 2006 film Venus. Rae is co-credited by the filmmakers for the score.

2009–present: The Sea

Corinne Bailey Rae released her new album titled The Sea on 26 January 2010.¹³ The album was released after a gap of two years following the death of her husband Jason Rae.¹⁴ Lead single I'd Do It All Again premiered on 25 November in 2009 on the Jools Holland program Later. ¹⁵ Follow up single "Closer" will be added to Smooth Jazz Radio on 25 January, Urban AC on 1 February and AC radio in late February. The album's second single "Paris Nights and New York Mornings" will go to Triple A radio on 15 February. ^{16 17} The track “I Would Like To Call It Beauty” was chosen as the Starbucks iTunes Pick of the Week on 2 February 2010.¹⁸

Personal life

Jason Rae

It was at university that she met Jason Rae, whom she eventually married in 2001 at age twenty-two. "I was Corinne Bailey. I added on Rae, my husband's name, when I got married. There's no hyphen; stops it being posh!".¹⁹ Born in 1976, Jason Rae was a Scottish musician, originally hailing from Aberdeen, who played saxophone for the eight-piece group Haggis Horns. The group has performed with Amy Winehouse,²⁰ Lily Allen, Mark Ronson,²¹ Nightmares On Wax and Corinne Bailey Rae herself.²² Rae had recorded with Bailey Rae, The New Mastersounds and Martina Topley-Bird (Quixotic).²³

Jason Rae was found dead on 22 March, 2008 in a flat in the Hyde Park area of Leeds. A pathologist report noted the possible cause of death as a "suspected drug overdose". A post-mortem examination on the musician's body was found to be inconclusive.²⁴ It was reported that Bailey Rae was not in the flat at the time of his death.²⁵ A 32 year-old man was arrested under suspicion of dealing recreational drugs to the musician but has since been released on bail.²⁶²⁷ In December 2008, Leeds Coroner's Court gave a verdict of death by misadventure, and stated that Rae died of an accidental overdose of methadone and alcohol. The West Yorkshire Police also cleared Rae's friend, in whose flat Rae died, of providing Rae with the methadone. ²⁸

Other activities and appearances

Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (December 2008)

• Rae was the musical guest on the 7 October 2006 episode of Saturday Night Live with the host being Jaime Pressly. She performed "Put Your Records On" and "Like a Star". She also appeared on Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip on the episode "B-12", which aired on 27 November 2006, with Howie Mandel. She performed "Like a Star" and "Trouble Sleeping".
• Rae performed on Radio 1 Live Lounge with the songs "Like a Star", a cover version of Editors' "Munich", and a cover version of Justin Timberlake's "SexyBack".
• Recorded John Lennon's "I'm Losing You" for Make Some Noise, Amnesty International's music venture. The song was also released on the 2007 John Lennon tribute album, "Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur."
• On 7 July 2007 Rae performed at the UK leg of Live Earth at Wembley Stadium, London.
• Recorded with Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, and other well-known jazz musicians Joni Mitchell's "River" for Herbie Hancock's September 2007 Joni Mitchell tribute album "River: The Joni Letters". At the 2008 Grammy Awards, the album won Album of the Year and Best Contemporary Jazz Album. She recorded a live session of "River" with Hancock at Abbey Road Studios in for Live from Abbey Road for Channel 4 which was broadcast on Series 2.
• The song I'd Like To from Rae's debut album was featured in the soundtrack for the movie He's Just Not That Into You (2009).
• Rae is the Special Ambassador for the charity CORD.²⁹
• Rae is the central ambassador for International water and Sanitation charity, Pump Aid

Discography

Awards and nominations

Kickers Urban Music Awards 2007

• • Best Neo-Soul Act – Nominated
  • Best Crossover Chart Act – Nominated

References

External links

• theartsdesk.com interview 2010 [4]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Corinne Bailey Rae

• Official website
• Corinne Bailey Rae at Allmusic
• Corinne Bailey Rae at the Internet Movie Database
• Corinne Bailey Rae discography at MusicBrainz
• Corinne Bailey Rae interview by Pete Lewis, 'Blues & Soul' February 2010
• musicOMH.com interview
• The Guardian interview 2005
• The Guardian interview 2009
• HiphopRnbSoul.com Audio Interview
• aol.co.uk videos from AOL Sessions, live performances, official releases and interviews
• Works by or about Corinne Bailey Rae in libraries (WorldCat catalog)