Joan Armatrading

Today's artist is one that I love dearly; she moves effortlessly between pop, rock, soul, folk, jazz, reggae and blues, she writes all of the music and most of the lyrics to her songs - and she plays most musical instruments in her albums. She offers gender neutral intimate snapshot-like songs that resonate universally. She is Joan Armatrading.

Having been born in Basseterre, on the Caribbean island of St Kitts, on December 9, 1950 (the best date ever), Joan came to join her parents and older brothers in Birmingham, England, when she was seven. Her parents had already moved there some years previously, and she lived with her grandmother on Antigua for four years. Her father had played in a band in his youth, later forbidding his children from touching his guitar. Who was the person whose encouragement meant most to her in her early days? "Well it was my mother who bought the piano into the house because she felt it was a great piece of furniture – and I immediately started to write songs. It was also my mother who swapped the two prams we had at the pawn shop so I could get a guitar that cost £3. So my mother would have to be the person who was most encouraging. Without really knowing, she was very instrumental in my being able to fulfil what I feel I was born to do."

She left school at the age of 15 to support her family, working in an engineering factory: ("I was a typist and a comptometer operator, which is another kind of typing adding machine. As the result of having been a typist I can type well and fast so in this technological age I’m ahead of the game in that field. Nothing to miss really, I’m still typing.")

In 1968, Armatrading joined a repertory production of the stage musical Hair. There she met the lyricist Pam Nestor in 1970, and they worked together on Armatrading's debut album Whatever's for Us, released by Cube Records in 1972. Nestor wrote the lyrics to 11 of the 14 songs on the album, while Armatrading wrote the lyrics to three of them, performed all the vocals, wrote all the music and played an array of instruments on the album. Although Nestor was credited as co-lyricist, Cube considered Armatrading to be the more likely star material. These events produced a tension that broke up the partnership.

The album was produced by Gus Dudgeon, the man that gave us Elton John's best albums. Not surprisingly, among the musicians that worked on it are familiar names for diehard Elton John fans: Davey Johnstone and Ray Cooper, as well as Gerry Conway, who performed on all the great Cat Stevens' albums of the 70s.

Although the album wasn't a hit, it received great reviews: Penny Valentine, of Sounds magazine, was ecstatic: "Whatever's for Us is a brilliant, crushing album – the kind of collection that you may have despaired of ever hearing from anyone in England." Derek Jewell, writing in the Sunday Times in 1972 commented: "this country has produced at last, from the new generation, a black singer of total individuality. Her name, Joan Armatrading, her first album, Whatever’s for Us, is sizzling."

My Family is the opening song; it speaks of the extended type of family that is based on love and not on blood.

It Could Have Been Better is said to have been one of Elton John's favourite songs at that time.

Visionary Mountains was later covered by Manfred Mann's Earth Band on the album Nightingales & Bombers in 1975.

Here's Manfred Mann's Earth Band's version:

City Girl was written by Armatrading about Pam Nestor:

Finally, Head Of The Table is a song about interracial relationships which was based on Nestor’s experiences of the family of a white boyfriend she had at the time.

In 1973 Armatrading's first single, Lonely Lady (with lyrics by Nestor), a song that had not been included on the album, was released:

A period of inactivity for Armatrading followed while she extricated herself from her contract with Cube Records. In 1975, Armatrading was free to sign with A&M Records, and issued the album Back To The Night. It was produced by Vinegar Joe guitarist Pete Gage, who allowed more of Ms. Armatrading to shine through. The backing musicians are again an accomplished lot, including members of Cat Stevens' band, Vinegar Joe's Steve York and a pre-Police Andy Summers.

The album, like its predecessor was a critical rather than a commercial success and did not sell in large numbers. A review in Record Mirror referred to the album's "indefinable magic" and music that's "a lot funkier" than her debut album and stated, "Joan Armatrading is quietly destroying musical barriers, providing something fresh and invigorating that's flavoured by lingering touches of soul, blues, folk and the sounds of Joan's Caribbean birth-place; the result is one of the most compelling artists working in Britain today."

Here's the powerfully intimate Dry Land:

Here's Travel So Far, with its the upbeat island feel:

Here's the inventive title track:

Here's Steppin' Out, featuring Andy Summers on lead guitar:

Finally, here's the jazzier Cool Blue Stole My Heart:

Joan Armatrading's eponymous third album (1976) was a charmer, almost single-handedly elevating her into the ranks of rock's leading female artists. Producer Glyn Johns (who has produced and/or engineered everybody, from The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who and Led Zeppelin to Bob Dylan, The Band, The Eagles, etc. Impressively, he later said that this was the best album he'd ever been associated with.) brought in members of Gallagher & Lyle, Fairport Convention, and the Faces to punch up her folksy sound with elements of rock, country, and disco. The result is her most muscular music to date. Of course, it helped that the record featured her best material delivered in a wonderfully expressive voice that can capture the shades between song and speech like a sweeter version of Ian Anderson.

The album was her first commercial success; it peaked at #12 in the UK and was certified gold. The album's best song - and one of her best overall, Love and Affection, was a top 10 single in the UK (and #16 in Ireland), her only top 10 hit in the UK. Opening with the classic line: "I'm not in love, but I'm open to persuasion", the song has been described as a "deceptively feisty ballad ... an instant classic."

Down to Zero was another classic, including imaginative lines and images like "brand new dandy/first-class scene stealer". As Joan herself says: "When I was younger I spent a lot of time in the library and I loved reading books by Dickens and Shakespeare. I also read the Just William books, Jane Austen, Sherlock Holmes and any good book that I could find, many of which were classics. All of these books have great language and think I just related to how those wonderful words were strung together."

Tall in the Saddle showed that unluckiness in love didn't have to have dire consequences:

Here's the artsy and eclectic Like Fire:

Finally, here's the beautiful ballad Save Me:

Retaining producer Glyn Johns and some of the same session players from her last record, Show Some Emotion (1977) repeated her previous album's chart success and included two more terrific singles in the same vein: Show Some Emotion and Willow. Robert Christgau called the album "Sometimes funny, always real, and never ever pretentious", and said that "Most of the meaning of the ordinary-plus lyrics is conveyed by stance and nuance."

Here's the terrific title track:

Here's the wonderful Willow:

Here's the aptly titled Warm Love:

Here's  the energetic Kissin' and a Huggin':

Finally, here's the compelling Opportunity:

Around this time, Armatrading wrote and performed The Flight of the Wild Geese, which was used during the opening and end titles for the 1978 war film The Wild Geese, starring Richard Burton, Richard Harris and Roger Moore:

Her next album, To The Limit (1978), was Armatrading's third and final studio collaboration with producer Glyn Johns. To The Limit marks a departure from her previous work, as she wanted to move away from the formal sound of a studio album and aim more for the feel of a live performance, while retaining the quality of a studio. To this end she used half the number of musicians she previously had, used a live studio band, and kept overdubs to a minimum.

Taking My Baby Up Town extends the theme of the song Kissin' and a Huggin' from Show Some Emotion and it was put to Armatrading by Penny Valentine of Melody Maker that the song was about gay relationships, though she denied this was the case.

Bottom to the Top was Armatrading's first flirtation with reggae (although there were reggae influences on Show Some Emotion) and the song arose from hearing some records which her younger brother had. She wanted to get as close to an authentic sound as possible, so the song was recorded in one take.

Barefoot and Pregnant was written after a conversation with her agent, during which Armatrading heard the expression "barefoot and pregnant"; used in the women's movement at the time. She was intrigued by the expression and wanted to write a song with that title.

The idea for Your Letter arose from a conversation Armatrading had with the American singer Bonnie Raitt who described finding a letter "she shouldn't have seen".

You Rope You Tie Me was a cool crossover into blues and jazz.

In 1979, Joan released her first live album; it was called Steppin' Out. From it, here's a live version of Love and Affection:

Love Song was one of two new songs found in this album:

... the other was How Cruel:

How Cruel was part of an EP released that year. Another song in this EP was the energetic Rosie:

Maggie Butler was a member of the team that designed the artwork for Steppin' Out. 32 years later, in May 2011, Joan and Maggie entered into a civil partnership, without much fanfare, in Lerwick in the Shetland Islands. Don't expect Joan to tell you about it, though: "People who like my music have a legitimate interest in me, but I need to retain some privacy, not to be telling people what's going on, or what I feel. When you go home, the reason it's beautiful is because it's personal to you and the people you want to include in it."

Her following album, Me Myself I (1980) was produced by Richard Gottehrer who had produced, among others, Blondie's first two albums. This is quite evident on the album's title track, which only just missed the top 20 in the UK (#21):

The album itself was Joan's most successful: it peaked at #5 in the UK, #28 in the US, #2 in Norway, #4 in New Zealand, #8 in Austria and #13 in Australia. All the Way from America was a minor hit single in the UK:

From the same album, here's the lively Simon:

Her next album, Walk Under Ladders (1981), was produced by another star producer, Steve Lillywhite. The album's title came from the album's lead single - and best track - I'm Lucky:

Here's a live performance of the amazing I'm Lucky:

No Love was also a single:

The Weakness in Me was a song to which old fans responded:

Another notable song from this album is When I Get It Right:

Her next album came in 1983 and was called The Key. Steve Lillywhite was commissioned to produce the album too; however, A&M Records judged the album to be not commercial enough and asked Armatrading to come up with some additional, more commercial, material. She went away and wrote the tracks Drop the Pilot and What Do Boys Dream, both of which were produced separately in New York by Val Garay. These two tracks therefore used a completely different set of musicians.

Drop the Pilot was released as a single and became her biggest international hit: #6 in Australia, #11 in the UK and #78 in the US. More importantly, it's my favorite Armatrading song. Every time I hear it playing, I get the irresistible urge to get up and dance, which means it's better off for everybody if I'm alone when this happens. It's one of these songs that make the clouds go away...

Here's a great live version of the song:

(I Love It When You) Call Me Names was a top 20 hit in Australia. It's a spectacular song - and I love the title!

What Do Boys Dream was another standout track:

Finally, from this album, Everybody Gotta Know:

Two years having passed since her last studio record, Joan Armatrading re-emerged with yet another producer (new wave veteran Mike Howlett) on Secret Secrets. Some of the material on here is very good, but the commercial momentum that had built up behind her during the early '80s was beginning to dissipate. The singles Temptation and Thinking Man are as catchy as anything she'd done before, but the songs failed to make much of an impact on the charts. Here's Temptation:

... and here's Thinking Man:

Joan Armatrading took matters into her own hands after the commercially disappointing Secret Secrets, producing and playing nearly all the guitars (acoustic and electric) on Sleight of Hand (1986). From it, here's the delightful Russian Roulette:

In The Shouting Stage (1988), Joan has developed a spare sound once again focusing on her songs and singing, backed by such tasteful accompanists as Dire Straits members Mark Knopfler and Alan Clark. Living For You grew out of a suggestion by Jamie Lane that Armatrading should write songs based on rhythms generated by a drum machine. It features Guy Barker's laid back trumpet and some synthesised steel band sounds.

The Shouting Stage was inspired by a heated argument between a couple that Armatrading witnessed in an Australian restaurant, along with an article in a London magazine she had read that said sooner or later every couple reaches a point called the shouting stage where they argue and might even come to blows.

Her first album for the 90s, Hearts And Flowers (1990), would be her last top 30 hit in the UK, as well as her last top 200 hit in the US. The opening track, More Than One Kind of Love, was an ode to friendship, as well as her penultimate top 75 hit single in the UK.

Her follow-up, Square the Circle (1992) was Armatrading's last album for the company to whom she had been signed for almost 20 years, A & M Records. It includes her last entry in the UK singles chart to date, Wrapped Around Her, which peaked at #56.

What's Inside was released in 1995. Everyday Boy is a moving song, inspired by a friend of Joan's who had AIDS.

Shapes and Sizes, which contains the line "Obituary columns are filled with love", was inspired by the death of British journalist and broadcaster Brian Redhead.

Her next studio album came out 8 years later, in 2003, and was called Lovers Speak. AllMusic's Thom Jurek described the album as "a startling testament of artistic integrity, searing emotional honesty, musical accessibility and sophistication" and said that it is "unmatched by anything on the current musical scene". He praised the album's "gorgeous pop, folk, and jazz forms" and its "eclectic, musical, and lyrical diversity", concluding that it is "poetry … a masterpiece", that "should be a contender for pop album of 2003". The album received 4.5 from 5 stars on that site.

Rashod D. Ollison of the Chicago Tribune referred to the album as "deeper [and] more spiritual … spiced with quirky romantic tales" that "[recall] classic Armatrading but with more simplicity and clearer messages". Closing track, Blessed, a short number, is one of Joan's most personal:

Dave Simpson of The Guardian referred to the song In These Times as "harrowing and moving".

Waiting is the most desperate folk song ever written about being the one left, all night alone, while the beloved is adrift in the sea of night. The dawn comes cold, slow, and gray, turning the protagonist from the angry to the worried to the lovesick.

Recording Into the Blues (2007), writes Joan Armatrading on the back sleeve of her first-ever blues album, "has given me so much pleasure," and that pleasure is evident in the grooves. Into the Blues debuted at #1 on the Billboard Blues chart, remaining at that position for 12 consecutive weeks and was nominated at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards for Best Contemporary Blues Album. The album also reached #2 on the iTunes Blues Chart. Armatrading is the first female UK artist to debut at #1 on the Billboards Blues chart and the first female UK artist to be nominated for a Grammy in the Blues category.

Here's the opening track, A Woman in Love:

Mama Papa is one of the more poignant tracks:

This Charming Life (2010) is the second of a trilogy of albums by Armatrading each concerned with a specific genre of music. She wrote and produced three albums focused on blues, rock and jazz music respectively, and This Charming Life is the second of these, and is an album that focuses on "guitar-driven rock".

Armatrading wrote and arranged all the songs on the album and plays all the instruments except for drums and percussion. She also produced the album. The tracks This Charming Life and Best Dress On were released as singles.

Here's This Charming Life:

... And here's Best Dress On, from Joan's 2010 US tour:

Starlight (2012) is the jazz album of the trilogy. James Christopher Monger of AllMusic commmented that Starlight "offers up a luxurious set of new originals [and] skilfully bridges the gap between the smooth folk-pop of Show Some Emotion, the amorous candor of Lovers Speak, and the evocative cool of Into the Blues".

Here's the buttery title cut:

In 2016, Armatrading was commissioned by director Phyllida Lloyd and the Donmar Warehouse to write the music to an all-female production of William Shakespeare's The Tempest. Armatrading released an accompanying digital album, The Tempest Songs.

Armatrading has been nominated three times for a Grammy Award and twice for a Brit Award as best female vocalist. She received an Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Contemporary Song Collection in 1996. She has received honorary degrees from the Liverpool John Moores University (2000), the University of Birmingham (2002), the University of Northampton (2003), Aston University (2006), the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (2008), and the Open University and the University of the West Indies (2013). She was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 2001.

In May 2012, before her concert at Uttoxeter, as part of the 2012 Acoustic Festival of Britain, she was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award. In April 2016, she was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2016 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards in recognition of her "influence on a generation of singer-songwriters [as] one of the outstanding voices in British music since the 1970s".

I will close with some of Armatrading's own words:

"Being on stage is not an easy thing, I would say, even if you are an extrovert it can’t be easy. However it’s particularly hard when you are shy and it’s always been a wonder to me how I ever got up on stage knowing how painfully shy I was when I first started my career."

"Songwriting for me today is just as it was when I first started writing songs. Some songs are easy, some not so easy and some more difficult. Each song takes on its character. That has not changed throughout the years. The only thing that I think has changed is that I enjoy writing now even more than when I first started. I was completely in love with writing when I first started and I think I’m even more in love with writing today."

"I watch The X Factor and I enjoy it. It worries me when contestants say that this is their life's dream and they don't know what they will do if they don't get through, but on the other hand, for some people, even standing on that stage is the fulfilment of their dream. There are some, who may not be particularly good singers, and you just know that the three minutes standing there in the spotlight is all that they've ever wanted, and I think for those people, it's fantastic."

"There are lots of good things about the digital age. Musicians can be in direct contact with their fans more, they can get their music to fans in a more direct way, they can communicate with fans almost on a one-to-one basis if they wish. Musicians can put out more music, they can sell music directly to their fans via websites or iTunes or other outlets. There’s lots of good stuff about the digital age. However, in terms of younger musicians having careers that can sustain a living, that’s harder because the cost of music is so inexpensive. Unless you have huge support from a record company – yes, they still exist and they are still needed – or if you have the backing of big management then it’s a real struggle to 'make it big'"

"I will never retire. I took pains to let people know it is my last major world tour. I have never said at any point that it is my final tour because it’s not. I plan on doing live performances from time to time. The big difference will be that I won’t be touring in the non-stop intensive way that I have done for the last 42 years. So look out for the next CD after the tour and new music from me as long as I’m alive because I will be writing until the day I die – that’s for definite."