Joss Stone

Joss Stone
a.k.a. Joscelyn Eve Stoker

JOSS’S STONE SOUL PICNIC
British Teen Gets 'Souled' American
The U.K. has a long tradition of native-born soul sisters, dating back to Dusty Springfield and stretching to Annie Lennox, Sade, and beyond; singers deeply immersed in American R&B who find their own voice by way of Aretha Franklin, Carla Thomas, and other legendary soul divas. It’s time to welcome the newest edition in the lineage: Joss Stone, who, at all of sweet 16, has released an album soaked in old-school U.S. soul. Produced in part by Betty “Clean Up Woman” Wright and featuring a raft of back-in-the-day talent, The Soul Sessions displays Stone’s startlingly mature vocal stylings, as well as her ease with classic R&B grooves. The promising diva-in-training spoke with Steve Futtterman about life in the soul lane.

Barnes & Noble.com: Were you aware of the British soul vocalists who preceded you?

Joss Stone: Of course. I listen to Dusty Springfield all the time, I love her. It’s that type of music that I connect with more than any other type.

B&N.com: How familiar were you with Betty Wright’s work before you got to work with her?

JS: I knew her hits “Cleanup Woman” and “ [sings] “Girls Can’t Do What the Guys Do.” I knew those two songs before I met her, so that was cool.

B&N.com: Are you happy with the way the album turned out?

JS: Oh yeah! I was actually working on an album before The Soul Sessions came about. I’ve got four or five more songs to do before it's finished. That will come out in 2004. The Soul Sessions was actually meant to be an EP of a few tracks to get people talking before the first album was to be released. But it worked out real well.

B&N.com: You do a funky version of the White Stripes' “Fell in Love with a Girl.” Who came up with that idea?

JS: [Producer] Steve Greenberg came to me with the idea of reworking that song. My first reaction was, “What?” I mean, it’s great, but it’s not soul. But we slowed it down and it sounded good. And then Steve said we’d cut it with the Roots, and I said OK!

B&N.com: How did you get into soul music?

JS: Aretha played a big part in that, because her greatest-hits album was one of the first CDs that I ever owned. We used to play it around the house all the time. Thank you, Aretha! Also Whitney Houston was a favorite. But I also listened to singers like Melissa Etheridge and Tracy Chapman.

B&N.com: Do you keep up with contemporary R&B?

JS: I love it. I’m listening to Nas right now. I like Jay-Z and Missy Elliott, and India.Arie. Lauyrn Hill is one of my favorite singers in the whole world.

B&N.com: What’s the next album going to be like?

JS: It’s going to be real soulful, but there’s going to be some hip-hop elements in there. I even have a reggae track in there. It’s going to be different, because I’ve co-written some of the songs; I’ve written lyrics. On The Soul Sessions I would never have sung anything that I didn’t agree with, in terms of the words. I mean you can’t sing it if you can’t relate to it. But with the new songs, because I wrote the words, it gets specific to me.

B&N.com: Are you looking forward to touring?

JS: Well, I hope to be supporting Simply Red on their next tour. I love them -- I used to listen to them when I was little.

B&N.com: "Little" -- I like that!

JS: [Laughs]

September 2003