| 1 | 1 | | British sisters are doing it for themselves. This year our black female singers have |
| 2 | | made their mark away from the dance floor. They refuse to be the music industry's |
| 3 | | stereotypical black act; with their back-to-basics approach they have broken from glitzy |
| 4 | | American soul and have put the funk into folk. |
| 2 | 5 | | Heading this revival is Des'ree, 25, who has repeated the success of her 1992 debut |
| 6 | | album Mind Adventures with a chart-topping second album, I Ain't Movin'.The so-called |
| 7 | | 'difficult' second-album syndrome hasn't proved a problem for Des'ree - I Ain't Movin' |
| 8 | | has produced two Top 20 hit singles. She's the natural successor to Joan Armatrading and, |
| 9 | | like her, she never sold her soul to America, only her records. |
| 3 | 10 | | 'We used to watch what the Americans were doing because they made the best soul |
| 11 | | music and, in order for us to be successful, we had to sound like them. But now I don't |
| 12 | | think that's so.We have a lot in our British background and our West Indian and African |
| 13 | | history which we can use in our music.' |
| 4 | 14 | | 'In America black music is very polished,' Des'ree continues. 'Artists feel a pressure |
| 15 | | to be shiny and well produced but the British sound is very real - earthy and natural.' |
| 16 | | Melanie Williams adds: 'In England there is more freedom. If you listen to Mariah Carey |
| 17 | | and Whitney Houston, it's very safe music. I'm left cold musically, it's really barren. In |
| 18 | | England, I feel I have so much more creative freedom.' |
| 5 | 19 | | But making new kinds of music has been an uphill struggle: 'I used to have battles |
| 20 | | with my record company all the time,' says Des'ree. "The problem is record companies |
| 21 | | think that black people just make soul music or Rhythm and Blues and if we're doing |
| 22 | | anything other than that it won't sell.' |
| 6 | 23 | | 'At the moment the big marketing trend is to remix everything that comes out,' says |
| 24 | | Lena Fiagbe, 24, whose second single Gotta Get It Right went to the top of the dance chart. |
| 25 | | 'When Gotta Get It Right was re mixed the whole situation was quite new to me, I didn't |
| 26 | | know th at I had the power to stop something like that happening. I was quite upset when I |
| 27 | | realised that people were going to get the wrong impression of my music.' |
| 7 | 28 | | But Lena says her third release, You Come From Earth (which comes out on |
| 29 | | September 5), will sound exactly as she intended. Unfortunately, she isn't alone in falling |
| 30 | | prey to the remixers. 'They completely change what you're doing, they strip everything off, |
| 31 | | they put on a beat and a bass line and just stick your vocal over the top,' Des'ree points |
| 32 | | out. 'If people don't like my songs the way they are, then that's that, you can't make people |
| 33 | | like something.' |
| 8 | 34 | | However, not all of Des'ree's energies are spent fighting the record company bosses |
| 35 | | - she also does a lot of work for the children's charity UNICEF. She is off to Ethiopia next |
| 36 | |
week to help with relief work and all earnings from her current single Little Child will go |
| 37 | | to the charity work there. |
| 9 | 38 | | No doubt Des'ree wiII take her mother along on her travels. 'My mother always |
| 39 | | comes around the world with me now, she's like my backbone because I can get so lonely |
| 40 | | when I'm on the road with 15 men. I need some female input sometimes just to say, "Oh |
| 41 | | my gosh, I'm going through this or th at ." You can't turn to your bass player and say, "Hey |
| 42 | | look, I've got some worries.''' |
