Fri 17th June, 2016
8:00 pm - 10:30 pm (Doors: 7:30pm)
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Bookings are closed for this event.
THE CHAPEL ARTS CAFE WILL BE OPEN THIS EVENING
With a full-toned voice that speaks of long-lost jazz clubs and a poise of delivery that belies her young years, singer/songwriter, Lady Nade, is a well-respected performer of her own material.
Supported by swing/jazz guitarist Seb Gutiez (Bartoune, Zen Hussies) and soul/folk double bassist Dan Everett (Polly and the Billet Doux / EverGreen Fish), her songs sketch moments of emotional transformation. Love and loss are perfectly framed by these two talented musicians, so expect moments of pin-drop intensity, heartbreak and happiness.
This is smoky, sultry and beautiful music from one of Bristol’s favorite singers and one of the UK’s most exciting and distinctive voices.
Lady Nade has been described as having a voice that speaks of long-lost jazz clubs, with a poise that belies her age. Mixing modern soul and folk. Her sound has been likened to “Anthony and the Johnsons, Nina Simone and Lianne La Havis.
The story of Nadine Gingell – Lady Nade – is as distinctive as her talent. She was born in Bristol, the only girl among seven siblings.
“I grew up with my granddad,” she says, “and listened mainly to his records, 50s rock ‘n’ roll stuff. I didn’t even know there was pop until the Spice Girls came out. Then I got into dance music, going out to raves, then a rock phase where I was listening to Nine Inch Nails and Muse.” The latter proved an un-likely catalyst, sending her straight towards her most recognisable influence. “I was looking for their version of Feelin’ Good, typed it in wrong, and the Nina Simone version came up. I was like ‘Oh my God! Why have I never heard of her before?’ My granddad said ‘If you like her, then you might like Billie Holiday or Ella Fitzgerald’.”
Thus, the music that would inspire the singer we hear today. Later would come influences including Joan Armatrading, Amy Winehouse, and Leonard Cohen.
At 12 she began writing poetry, and at 14 started attending her first youth music group: Remix, based at Bristol’s Colston Hall. A year later, she entered a young people’s songwriting competition: “I didn’t really think it would go that far, but I won!” Confidence buoyed, she moved into further education and, like Dizzee Rascal and Ed Sheeran before her, enrolled in an Access To Music course.
In 2007, she caught the ear of a local music journalist who’d come to talk to her class. When his report of a “spectacularly brilliant” singer persuaded Grant Marshall – aka Daddy G – to go and see her perform, the Massive Attack founder was so impressed he asked her to contribute ideas to the group. By then she had already collaborated with local blues figurehead, Eddie Martin, the first in a long line of musical luminaries keen to work with her. These include: Kosheen singer, Sian Evans; Brit jazz ace, Zara McFarlane; drum and bass band leader, Dr Meaker; Invada Records’ critically acclaimed singer, Joe Volk; and the extraordinary, Congo-hailing Kinshasa Sympathy Orchestra.
Lady Nade’s distinctive voice has also been in demand in theatre land, from Macbeth at the Bristol Old Vic, to singing to thousands of quayside onlookers from a boat, in the part of Fair Avona, in a vast production launching Bristol’s M Shed museum.
In fairness, taking the lead role in a community production has been a weekly entry in Lady Nade’s diary for a long time now: she is just about the most pop-ular open mic host in town. Little wonder, given her stage-side manner: “If I can tell someone is nervous, I stay at the front,” she explains. “If they don’t know anyone else there, they can perform to me.”
Thus, the nurturing attitude instantly recognisable to the hundreds of young musicians who have passed through her mentoring care. It’s a double life she has lived for years: tutor by day, sultry chanteuse by night. Many of her charg-es come from backgrounds from which they are perhaps unlikely ever to find another opportunity to express themselves through music. Which, for never-forgetting-her-roots Lady Nade, is very much the point. “For someone like me,” she explains, “they changed everything.”
Performances
Glastonbury Festival, The Secret Garden Party, BBC Radio 4′s More Than Words Festival, Womad, Hay On Wye Sunrise, Festival
https://soundcloud.com/lady-nade
www.youtube.com/ladynadevideos
The Harry Miller Band
Think Jack Johnson meets Tracy Chapman, to be honest this acoustic three piece band are quite hard to pinpoint. They successfully manage to create a beautifully melodic, fresh sound that’s unique to the Bath music scene.