Emma Deigman
For a 20 year old about to release her first album, Emma Deigman has some impressive admirers. Bryan Adams recently turned up to one of her gigs, Gary Barlow has declared himself a huge fan and, on hearing a handful of her songs, Rod Stewart immediately offered to help her break the States.
Listen to Deigman's debut album, and you can understand the fuss. Sumptuous soul vocals hark back to the '70s on funky, feel-good songs with and lashings of live brass and strings. Produced by Eliot Kennedy (the Grammy Award winner behind dozens of hits for Spice Girls, Take That, Celine Dion and Blue) the album is an infectious mix of modern and old school. There is a rasp to Deigman's captivating voice that recalls her hero Rod Stewart and shades of Joss Stone at her sunniest. In short, it's soul music to make you smile.
"A lot of the album is upbeat and lively," says Deigman. "You can hear how much fun we had making it. †My best memories are of watching the band in Eliot's studio in Sheffield. Everything was played live, often recorded in just one take. We went back to the way music used to be made - no computers, full horn and string sections. We even had a grand piano in there."
Born in Buckinghamshire, now based in London, Deigman has long seemed destined for stardom. At seven, she made her West End debut in Les MisÈrables, playing …ponine in the show's record-breaking, opening run. By the time they asked her back to play Cosette, she was too busy starring in Annie, a role that took the 10 year old to both the Royal Variety Show and Top Of The Pops, where she performed with Jay-Z.
"Seven of us sang on his hit Hard Knock Life and not one of us knew who he was," laughs Deigman. "I have a picture of me and my mate sitting on Jay-Z's lap, dressed in rags. He was trying to teach us ghetto hand signs. We were more interested in whatever boy band was there."
"Even better was singing at the Royal Variety show with Lily Savage. She was hysterical. All the kids were supposed to look angry, but Lily kept telling us jokes, making us giggle. I remember the whole England football team was there and we were screaming at David Beckham."
Deigman was five when, at a panto in Wycombe with her mother, she ran down the aisle and tried to clamber on stage. She has hardly been off a stage since. There was a stint at the National Theatre, several TV series (including one in which her character helped take a real boy band hostage) and, aged 13, the feature film Last Orders with Bob Hoskins and Michael Caine.
By 15, Deigman was writing songs and sending off demos, although it was when she went to boarding school for sixth form that she knew her heart lay in music.
"Until then, I couldn't decide between singing and acting," she recalls. "But I hated boarding school and used to keep myself sane by writing songs. Being able to put my emotions down on paper helped me get through a few hard years. My dad got cancer - he's in remission now - and I had to leave school to help look after my little brother and sister. One of the songs I wrote at that time, Back To One, is on the end of the album. It's an ode to my parents."
Most of the rest of the album was co-written with Kennedy, to whom Deigman sent a demo almost two years ago. "I had sent Eliot demos before, but he never replied," says Deigman. "This time he was straight on the phone, asking me to come to Sheffield. It was the scariest day of my life. We talked about artists we liked and I told him I wanted to make a soul album. Then he played me Some Kind Of Beautiful, a song he had written more than ten years ago, but never recorded. It blew me away. Eliot said he had never found the right person to sing it. Then I did a version and he said it was perfect. I couldn't believe it. That was the start of the album."
For a year, Deigman commuted to Sheffield for writing sessions and to record with a huge band of veteran musicians in Kennedy's studio. Among the album's highlights are boogie piano-driven, It Was You, on which Deigman sings about 'a loveable S.O.B.' and missing her Jimmy Choo shoes, an inspired reworking of Teddy Pendergrass' Love TKO and sensual, brass-backed ballad Heart And Soul.
A late addition to the album was Faker Man, co-written with Lily Allen collaborator Blair MacKichan, while Jeremy Wheatley (Duffy, Sugababes, Robbie Williams) signed up to mix the album. Meanwhile, Deigman has been playing live with her own band - after a show at West London's Troubadour, they immediately offered her a residency. In November, she shared a stage with Kenny Thomas and in December, played to a crowd of two and a half thousand at London's City Hall, alongside Peter Kay and Bryan Adams.
Having met Adams (who has worked with Kennedy throughout his career) at his own show at 02 a few months ago, Deigman had the favour returned when the Canadian rocker turned up to one of her acoustic gigs.
"Eliot had played him my album and he said he wanted to come see me live," says Deigman. "I didn't think he would, then I was playing this little club in London and he came and stood right at the front. I was shaking all the way through."
Deigman's meeting with Rod Stewart was even more surreal. "My dad adores Rod Stewart," she says. "When we were kids, he had one of those six-slot CD players in the car, full of Rod albums. I was more in to the Spice Girls at the time and kept telling dad to turn Rod off. Then I grew up and realised how incredible he is. His voice is amazing. I also love artists like Lauryn Hill, Aretha, The Supremes and Stevie Wonder, but Rod Stewart is probably my biggest influence.
"A couple of months ago, my mum won dinner with Rod and Penny at a charity auction and took me along. We sat in this restaurant off Park Lane with them and, for ages, I couldn't say a word. In the end, I had to blurt out how big a fan I was or I wouldn't have been able to eat.
"My dad is Scottish and he and Rod got on really well - they even swopped phone numbers! I gave him a CD of a few of my songs when we left, but I didn't think he'd actually play it. Twenty minutes later he called dad to say he had listened to it three times already and absolutely loved it. He said he would do what he can to help me in the States.
"Now my dream is to do a duet with him. A year ago, if someone had suggested that, I would have laughed at them. But so much has happened already, I feel as though anything's possible."
For a 20 year old about to release her first album, Emma Deigman has some impressive admirers. Bryan Adams recently turned up to one of her gigs, Gary Barlow has declared himself a huge fan and, on hearing a handful of her songs, Rod Stewart immediately offered to help her break the States.
Listen to Deigman's debut album, and you can understand the fuss. Sumptuous soul vocals hark back to the '70s on funky, feel-good songs with and lashings of live brass and strings. Produced by Eliot Kennedy (the Grammy Award winner behind dozens of hits for Spice Girls, Take That, Celine Dion and Blue) the album is an infectious mix of modern and old school. There is a rasp to Deigman's captivating voice that recalls her hero Rod Stewart and shades of Joss Stone at her sunniest. In short, it's soul music to make you smile.
"A lot of the album is upbeat and lively," says Deigman. "You can hear how much fun we had making it. †My best memories are of watching the band in Eliot's studio in Sheffield. Everything was played live, often recorded in just one take. We went back to the way music used to be made - no computers, full horn and string sections. We even had a grand piano in there."
Born in Buckinghamshire, now based in London, Deigman has long seemed destined for stardom. At seven, she made her West End debut in Les MisÈrables, playing …ponine in the show's record-breaking, opening run. By the time they asked her back to play Cosette, she was too busy starring in Annie, a role that took the 10 year old to both the Royal Variety Show and Top Of The Pops, where she performed with Jay-Z.
"Seven of us sang on his hit Hard Knock Life and not one of us knew who he was," laughs Deigman. "I have a picture of me and my mate sitting on Jay-Z's lap, dressed in rags. He was trying to teach us ghetto hand signs. We were more interested in whatever boy band was there."
"Even better was singing at the Royal Variety show with Lily Savage. She was hysterical. All the kids were supposed to look angry, but Lily kept telling us jokes, making us giggle. I remember the whole England football team was there and we were screaming at David Beckham."
Deigman was five when, at a panto in Wycombe with her mother, she ran down the aisle and tried to clamber on stage. She has hardly been off a stage since. There was a stint at the National Theatre, several TV series (including one in which her character helped take a real boy band hostage) and, aged 13, the feature film Last Orders with Bob Hoskins and Michael Caine.
By 15, Deigman was writing songs and sending off demos, although it was when she went to boarding school for sixth form that she knew her heart lay in music.
"Until then, I couldn't decide between singing and acting," she recalls. "But I hated boarding school and used to keep myself sane by writing songs. Being able to put my emotions down on paper helped me get through a few hard years. My dad got cancer - he's in remission now - and I had to leave school to help look after my little brother and sister. One of the songs I wrote at that time, Back To One, is on the end of the album. It's an ode to my parents."
Most of the rest of the album was co-written with Kennedy, to whom Deigman sent a demo almost two years ago. "I had sent Eliot demos before, but he never replied," says Deigman. "This time he was straight on the phone, asking me to come to Sheffield. It was the scariest day of my life. We talked about artists we liked and I told him I wanted to make a soul album. Then he played me Some Kind Of Beautiful, a song he had written more than ten years ago, but never recorded. It blew me away. Eliot said he had never found the right person to sing it. Then I did a version and he said it was perfect. I couldn't believe it. That was the start of the album."
For a year, Deigman commuted to Sheffield for writing sessions and to record with a huge band of veteran musicians in Kennedy's studio. Among the album's highlights are boogie piano-driven, It Was You, on which Deigman sings about 'a loveable S.O.B.' and missing her Jimmy Choo shoes, an inspired reworking of Teddy Pendergrass' Love TKO and sensual, brass-backed ballad Heart And Soul.