For somebody who “never intended to have a career in music”, American jazz singer Stacey Kent has achieved phenomenal success. With seven best-selling albums, two BBC jazz awards for best vocalist and a Grammy nomination to her name, the mesmerising songbird boasts fans the world over, from Stockholm to Taipei, and at the heart of this Hollywood tale of stardom is an old-fashioned love story.
Fondly recalling the first meeting with her now husband and long-time collaborator, the tenor saxophonist Jim Tomlinson, the 41-year-old swoons: “Jim had a philosophy degree and I had a degree in comparative literature, and we were both heading towards a career in academia. Then we met through friends and that was it, love at first sight. We shared this enormous passion for music and by total coincidence had both enrolled at the Guildhall School of Music. Playing together gave us an excuse to hang out, then we started getting gig offers. Neither of us were thinking of a career in music at all, we were just having fun.”
It’s a career littered with highlights, from performing at Clint Eastwood’s 70th birthday and being awarded the medal of Knight of the French Order of Arts and Literature earlier this year to working with the great novelist Kazuo Ishiguro on her 2007 album Breakfast On The Morning Tram, her “most confessional album to date”.
Now in her 12th year of being in the industry and working on her eighth solo album (in fact, she and Jim are brainstorming in the car when we speak), it seems almost laughable that a career in anything other than music was every mooted.
Aware of her talent from a young age, the likable star, who splits her time between Colorado and north London, reveals: “Friends and family would ask me to sing for them when I was a child. Interestingly, my approach to music then wasn’t dissimilar to what it is now. It was very intimate and about storytelling. I had a reputation for sharing tender songs with people to make them feel better.”
And for her legions of fans, that’s exactly what she still does best to this day.
Stacey Kent performs at the Millfield Arts Centre on Wednesday, October 14, 8pm. Tickets: 020 8807 6680 or www.millfieldtheatre.co.uk (£18/£16 concs)
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