Gabrielle: “My dreams certainly have come true.”
Gabrielle was “really chuffed” to discover that Britain’s most popular contemporary female singer was a childhood a fan. “Adele mentioned in an article that her mum got her an eye patch because she liked me. It’s pretty cool. When I was younger, I was very insecure about everything, and (it’s nice to know) you did make your mark.”
Louisa Gabrielle Bobb was one of the biggest British female stars of the 90s, the piratical soul singer-songwriter famous for such smash hits as Dreams and Rise Again. At 43, after a decade spent focussing on motherhood, Gabrielle is mounting a comeback. This week sees the release of Now And Always: 20 Years Of Dreaming, a hits compilation featuring seven new tracks made with young producers. It includes a radical remake of her signature song Dreams, with Emile Sande collaborator Naughty Boy. “My dreams certainly have come true. It’s not like the X Factor where everybody wants to be famous, I love it, but I wouldn’t have the balls to do that, I just wanted to sing, I didn’t care where, pub, club, street corner. And to still be singing 20 years later is fantastic. People are usually too afraid or due to circumstances they can’t go and fulfil a dream, so I’ve been very blessed.”
When she first appeared in public in 1993, the Hackney born singer was sporting a glittery eye patch. It was designed to disguise her “lazy eyelid”, which she says makes her look like she’s “half-asleep”, and that people would think she was winking at them. “It was best for me to cover it, because I was always embarrassed by it. I put (the eye patch) on and I felt powerful, I didn’t have to avert my eyes anymore from anyone looking at me.”
Gabrielle confesses that her eye problem made her too shy in her school days to reveal her musical ambition to anyone. “It was quite a laughable thing, 'cause I wasn’t conventional looking, and I had the cheek to want to appear on national TV singing.” There were only a few strong female pop role models around, but she says “I had so many other things to worry about … can I make it in this male dominated world was the least of my worries.”
She pronounces herself delighted, however, to see the pop charts dominated by female artists, citing Amy Winehouse, Emile Sande and Adele. “Women have truly come into their own. They are not puppets for songwriting teams, they know what they want to sing about, how they are going to deliver (and) present themselves. It’s amazing to watch.”
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