Joss Stone wanted to be a virtual act like Gorillaz to protect her privacy.
Joss Stone
The 'You Had Me' hitmaker - who also admitted she is "jealous" of Sia for retaining her anonymity by usually appearing with a wig covering her face - signed a record deal aged 14, and asked the label boss if her music videos could be animated like the cartoon 'Clint Eastwood' band, which features real-life musicians Damon Albarn. Jamie Hewlett and Remi Kabaka Jr..
She told the 'Castaway' podcast: "I said to Steve Greenberg, who signed me when I was 14, ‘Steve, if we’re gonna do music videos, can we just do a cartoon like the Gorillaz so nobody knows what I look like?’
"And he said, ‘I didn’t sign you to hide you’... How jealous am I of Sia?”
Joss, now 33, also opened up on the dangers of fame, after two men planned to rob and kill her in 2011.
She added: "If you put yourself out there in that way then guess what?
"They’re gonna know what you look like and they might follow you and try to kill you, and they might call you all the names under the sun.
“Or they might fall in love with you and buy you flowers and turn up.”
In terms of her music career, Joss' most recent releases include 2020 singles 'Lean On Me' and 'Walk With Me', although she hasn't released a full length album since 'Water For Your Soul' in 2015.
However, in October the 'Super Duper Love' singer confirmed she and her partner Cody are expecting their first baby together.
Announcing her pregnancy, she said at the time: "Guess what? I am going to have a little baby, too! I am so excited to talk to you [influencer Ella Mills; her guest] because I don’t know many pregnant women. I am week 17 and I just stopped being sick all the time."
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