EP169 - Carleen Anderson - Singer, Songwriter, Composer, Producer, Arranger, Writer...

Episode 169: Carleen Anderson - Singer, Songwriter, Composer, Producer, Arranger, Writer...

My latest podcast guest Carleen Anderson really needs no introduction.

A genuine world class artist... She's such a huge talent in her own right and another to enter Paul Weller's orbit during the solo years - providing us with some very special moments on record and live.

Throughout her solo career, she’s been featured alongside a multitude of established artists from a wide array of musical genres - Nigel Kennedy, Dr. John, Omar, Chrissie Hynde, Jocelyn Brown, Meshell Ndgeocello, Paul McCartney, Brand New Heavies, Incognito, Ramsay Lewis and more...

The Huffington Post called her "Without doubt one of the all-time great female vocalists... Carleen must be seen to be believed..."

Amy Winehouse once said "Carleen Anderson - She's someone who I would sit around the venue all day, just to hear her soundcheck..."

On this exclusive podcast chat, we hear about her upbringing in Houston, Texas where she was raised by her paternal grandparents during the civil rights movement in the 1960s. Reared up on the sounds rooted in Gospel music inherited from the Pentecostal church where the pastor, David Anderson, Sr. her paternal Grandfather, and her Grandmother Alberta, raised her from an infant.

We'll hear stories of her musical family. She is the daughter of soul singer Vicki Anderson, step-daughter of singer, songwriter, Bobby Byrd... and god-daughter of James Brown!. Her birth Father, Dr. Reuben P. Anderson, Sr., is the pastor of his own church in Compton, California, further extending the connection Carleen still retains in gospel music.

We'll hear about her relocation with her son to England in 1990 and the just-by-chance beginning of her professional career as the vocalist, composer, arranger and recording artist for Young Disciples.

The band were shortlisted for the Mercury Music Prize in 1992.

Carleen released her debut solo album in 1994, and was nominated for a Independent Artist Brit Award in 1995.

Our connections with Paul Weller begin with Young Disciples as their album was recorded at Solid Bond Studio, and take us through Paul's debut solo album through standout highlights on Stanley Road -especially their spine-tingling shared vocals on Wings of Speed, a co-produced Carleen Anderson album called Blessed Burden in 1998, and performances on record and on stage around Illumination and Studio 150 - complete with two DVD releases of those Weller gigs...

Carleen was named Jazz FM’s UK Vocalist of 2013 and four years later, musicologist Gilles Peterson presented her with a Worldwide FM Lifetime Achievement Award.

These days, Carleen is focused on establishing a platform to expand the stylings of music storytelling theatre.

Her most recent album - Cage Street Memorial - was nominated in 2018 for Jazz FM’s Innovation of the Year. The project was more than just an album of original music, it was also a theatre production written and performed by Carleen, and an autobiographical book of the same name.

Since 2020, she has been working on what she describes as "a blended-roots Opera called MELIOR Opus Griot" with a regional premiere in Devon and a worldwide double album release scheduled for 2024.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.