Lemar Talks About Love From All Sides

Lemar certainly deserves his position as Britain’s leading soul singer.The London born performer has already made two critically acclaimed albums – “Time to Grow” and “Dedicated,” and his impact in the musical world is highlighted by the fact that he’s already won two Brits, two Mobo awards and sold 1.5 million of his records. The sincere “old school soul” of “If There’s Any Justice” made it one of the standout tracks of 2004. After taking a well-earned break, the 27-year-old musician is now set to release what is being billed as the best album of his career, this month, entitled "The Truth About Love". He’s also getting ready to do some live dates, including at London’s Jazz Café, where he’ll be performing “stripped down” versions of songs from all three of his records.FemaleFirst managed to have a chat with the former reality TV star with the dulcet tones whilst he was in London promoting his brand new material. Can you describe your third album to me in your own words?

I would describe this album as very soulful. It’s much more of a singer’s record. I think it’s a bit more mature as well. It’s called “The Truth About Love” and it basically discusses all the different emotions that you go through when you’re in love. Usually people associate the word love with happiness, joy, sunshine and nothing ever going wrong but we all know that’s not the case. Basically the songs are about frustration, temptation, about being in love and about being heartbroken.

You’re going to be holding four live gigs at the Jazz Café in London this month (11-14 September). Are you looking forward to them?

Definitely - I think it’s going to be fun. You know I was really happy that we got that venue because it’s a bit intimate and also it just gives me the opportunity for the first time to get my message across as to what just a few of songs on the album were about and meant to me, and to showcase a few of those songs in a different light because I’m not going to have the full band there. I’m just going to have it broken down; it’s just going to be more of an acoustic set so, you know, just to get a different take on a few of the songs on the album.You were going to go to University weren’t you, but instead decided to follow the music profession?

Yeah, I had a place to do pharmacy at Cardiff University and I decided to just give music a try for a year – which turned into eight years. (Laughs) And then eventually I stumbled across the show Fame Academy and I thought I would give it a try, and here I am today.

You’ve struggled in the past then to break into the music industry. What advice would you like to give to an aspiring singer?

Just don’t give up. I think you have to be honest with yourself. If you really think that you do have it and it’s the only thing that you want to do, then give it a 100% and follow it through to the end because it’s usually when you’re backed into a corner and things are hard that you push that little step further and you get what you want. So, if you really are honest with yourself and you really do think you’ve got something to offer and you’ve got a good voice or you’re a good performer or a good actor or whatever, then just keep on pursuing it. Just be 100% honest and 100% dedicated and sooner or later you will get your break.

You were one of the twelve contestants who were part of the BBC’s Fame Academy series in 2002 and you came third in the competiton. Can I ask you a bit more about that particular experience?

It was an interesting experience for me. Obviously it’s weird being in a house with cameras on and you’re there. I was in there for three months – right to the end so it could get a bit frustrating at times. Sometimes you don’t know how you should behave or what you should be doing. But I’m just happy that it did what it said on the can – it gave me the opportunity to show what I’d been learning for a few years and just gave me a little stage in order to show the public and gave me my chance. I’m just really happy for that fact really.

You’ve just done a duet with Joss Stone for your new album. What was it like working with her for the first time?

Working with Joss Stone was great. She’s a really, really nice person, you know, really happy go lucky. Just an amazing girl, so it was really nice to get in the studio with her. She’s got an amazing voice. We wrote a song together – we wrote a song called Anniversary. I think if people check it out on the album they’ll like it. It’s a song just celebrating being in love with someone.

There has been a bit of romantic speculation about the pair of you recently hasn’t there?

Oh no, were getting married now (Laughs). Nah, only joking. She’s just a friend, a really good friend. We had a good time writing some songs. We’ve been pretty cool friends – so yeah, it’s cool.

You also collaborated with Mica Paris and Styles P for The Truth About Love?

Yeah, Mica Paris and Styles P are also on another track called “Can’t You See.” I think that the greatest thing apart from Mica’s great voice – is her personality. She’s got such a nice personality and she was so forthcoming when I asked her to get on the record. It was amazing. I think Brian Rawling, who produced the album phoned Mica Paris one day while we were in the studio because I said that “Can’t You See”, which is the track that we did together would be nice if it had a big female voice on it. He phoned her because he had done her last album and she came in the very next day at three thirty and sang the song for me. So it was really spontaneous and of the moment, and it was really nice of her to that.

You penned another track didn’t you called “Your Face” in honour of your mum?

Yeah, “Your Face”, that’s about my mother. Obviously my mother passed away before my first single, so it was kind of a frustrating time. Sometimes you feel like you’ve dealt with an issue in your life but when you get time to be alone and spend some time with yourself you realise whether you have really dealt with that scenario. And for me I hadn’t – in between my second and third album I had a lot more time to write and a lot more time to sit alone and just be with myself. It was then that I realised that I hadn’t quite dealt with my mother’s passing. So I took some time out to grieve properly and I was able to write this song just before I took some time out. It’s just a song that talks about the pressures of being in a situation that I’m in and the emotions that you go through when you lose someone in that way.

You apparently spent six months writing the lyrics for your new album. Is there a place where you like to be creative and write your songs?

The studio does feel more like the working environment for me. But you can create a song anywhere – on a plane, in a hotel room, at home, in a studio. I think the most important thing with music is not to try and schedule it in when you’re trying to write something because then it comes across as almost forced. If you want to write and you want it to be in the studio, then go to the studio every day and hopefully something will come in that time but if you don’t practise every day and then you just say “you know what, at six o’clock on a Thursday I’m going to go to the studio and write a song,” then you might not get the inspiration at that time. So I think any time any place you can get an idea and then you can develop it further when you get to the studio.

Who are your music influences?

There’s a bit of a variety. I like Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, Marvin Gaye, Al Green, Stevie Wonder, Boys 2 Men, James Brown. I like a range of stuff – I like Alicia Keys – I think she’s really cool.

What’s been your favourite live show, to date?

I think on my last tour, my late show at the Hammersmith Apollo was great. It’s nice performing in London anyway but performing at the Hammersmith Apollo where so many greats have performed. It’s just got a real nice vibe around there. I did two nights down there and it was just nice to know people had spent their money and had come down to make it a sold out night, so it was great.

You’ve just made a new music video for your latest single. How did the filming of that go?

That was great. I did that one in Los Angeles. I’d been in Los Angeles for a month mixing the album so it was nice. I was out there and after three weeks of mixing the last week I did the video and a couple of photo shoots as well. The video is very simple – it’s just me basically, but I wanted people to see me in the light that I usually like to be in. So it’s just me and a band. I’m performing in a swanky nightclub. It’s just a calm video but I think it lets the song breathe and lets people listen to the song as well as watch the video.

Do you have a way of preparing yourself before going on stage? Any rituals, anything you do to psyc yourself up for a live performance?

Not really. On tour I just like being chilled. I’m a person that doesn’t get too pressured. I get nervous. But the way that I deal with pressure is that I try and forget about the situation and the scenario. I try to forget the enormity of anything that I’m doing. I just think it’s another performance and get on stage. So, I like to be just chilled, I don’t like to be around anybody who feels that they’re nervous because then it rubs off on me. I just like being chilled in my own space and then before we all go on stage usually we all get together – the band – and say a little prayer and just keep our fingers crossed and go on stage. It’s not too many rituals - just being in my own space and just before I go on, having a good karma.

What was the first record that you ever bought?

SWV’s “Right Here” I just really like the song – it had a little Michael Jackson riff in it, so I just fell in love with the song and felt really compelled to go and buy it.

What’s the strangest fan encounter that you’ve ever had?

Erm, I don’t have too many weird ones. I always think tears are always a different one. I remember I was in Sony when the building was in Central London. I was with Sony and I’d come in to do something and there was a fan there on work experience. She just burst into tears when she saw me and I just, kinda, didn’t know what to do. I thought “am I that ugly” or I don’t know “do I smell.” I just ended up giving her a hug.

I believe you’ve become a Christian Aid Ambassador. Can you tell us a bit more about that?

Yeah, that was amazing. I’m really happy that John McKee came and asked me to take a look at what they do. Because usually people come over to me for charities and say: “Can you hold this or can you take a pictures of this,” but you don’t actually know the charity in depth. So it was nice that he invited me to go out to Ethiopia and have an actual look at some of the things they do and some of the situations that are going on out there. So I got on the plane and I did that. It was a real eye opener. I saw some quite severe scenarios and it does just make you think just that little bit harder.

Where would you like to see yourself in another ten years time?

In another ten years. Wow! Erm, hopefully doing the same thing or a version of. Either still performing or helping other artists who are, and giving them advice on performance and song writing and stuff. I’d like to be in the business in some way. I’d like to still be getting on stage if people still want to hear me – then cool. If not you know I’m not gonna… I think the best careers are the ones where you don’t over run. I can go as long as people are there and as long you are enjoying it and it’s not work. The minute it becoming work or the minute people really have had enough of you, then either be more creative and change things up a bit or go behind the scenes and continue writing and enjoy it that way.

Anything else coming up?

The tour. The tour’s next year in March. I should be going on the road. We’ll be scheduling that in and I should be preparing for that and doing a few performances up and down the country. So it should be cool.

For more information about Lemar please visit www.lemar-online.com. His new single “It’s Not that Easy" is released on 4th September and is one of the irresistible tracks taken from his forthcoming album “ The Truth About Love" which is set for release on September 11th.

Rebecca Leach