Gabrielle: ‘I’m coming back as a white male, honey’

The singer is back with her first album in 11 years. She talks about being caught up in a murder investigation, female oppression and finding happiness as she approaches 50

Gabrielle roars into the room like a Formula One car at full throttle, and the 18 years since we last met pass in a flash. At the time, she was a big star with a big leather coat, big shades and an even bigger life story. Despite the No 1 records, the Brit awards and the fact she was ranked as one of the 50 wealthiest women in the UK, it wasn’t a life story for which many of us would readily swap.

At the height of her fame, she was caught up in a gruesome murder story. Her former boyfriend – the father of her elder child – beheaded his stepfather. Gabrielle was tarred by association. It was desperately unfair. What made it even more unfair was that we all loved Gabrielle. She was a south London working-class heroine who had succeeded against the odds. She didn’t have the biggest or best voice; she had an eye condition that she was so self-conscious of she covered it with a patch, shades or a streak of hair; she wasn’t your regular size-zero pop star. Yet she had a lovely, soulful voice, co-wrote her own songs, was loud and funny and gorgeous, and had so many issues that most of us could relate to her.

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from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2OfIk0P

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