Joan Armatrading gets into the blues

3:16pm Thursday 15th February 2007

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PASSING by the window of the local pawn shop, the young Joan Armatrading chanced upon seeing a "no-name" guitar in the window. Despite never having played a single chord herself, the youngster had always been fascinated with her father's own six stringed instrument, but this remained strictly out of bounds. She pestered her mother to buy the guitar in the pawn shop, but at the price of £3 the family could seldom afford it.

"So my mother traded in two old prams we no longer used and I finally got my first guitar," remembers Joan. "I still have it and it means everything to me."

"Sometimes I feel I can’t even take credit for my music. It’s just something there in my head and my heart."

Joan Armatrading

The day Joan received her guitar turned out to be something of a seminal moment in her life, for the talented young girl immediately sat down with the instrument and taught herself to play.

By the age of 14, Joan, who was born in the West Indies and moved to Birmingham while still young, was writing her own songs.

Seven years later she signed her first record deal and by 1975 she was churning out a plethora of hits including Love and Affection, Down to Zero, Drop The Pilot and Me, Myself, I.

To date, Joan's achievements within the music industry are nothing short of astounding. She has been nominated for numerous Brit and Grammy Awards and was a recipient of the highly coveted Ivor Novello Award.

In 2001, she became one of the few female artists ever to receive an MBE.

She has even been asked to perform for Nelson Mandela and her list of musical collaborations reads like a who's who of great contemporary musicians, including Mark Knopfler, Darryl Jones (Rolling Stones) and members of Fairport Convention, XTC and Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band.

Now with 18 albums solidly under her belt, many of which turned platinum, Joan has produced one more, Into The Blues.

She has also just kicked off her latest UK tour, which arrives in Oxford next week.

Not bad for someone who never had any formal musical training, but who rather was guided by something "instinctive".

"My musical ability is a natural, God-given talent," Joan tells me. "I never thought to take music up seriously, I just found that I could. Sometimes I feel I can't even take credit for my music.

"It's just something there in my head and my heart."

As if her natural talent was all she needed, Joan tells me she seldom listens to or buys other types of music.

The 57-year-old singer and songwriter, who currently lives in Surrey, adds: "I've never been influenced by anyone else, that's probably why my style is my style.

"When I think about it, there wasn't another female, and certainly not a black female, who played the guitar.

"So I never had that kind of a role model growing up. I just did my own thing."

Indeed, Joan's music almost refuses to be pigeonholed. Effortlessly eclectic, her style ranges from pop to rock, folk, jazz and even reggae across all her albums. Speaking about her latest CD, Joan says she wanted to produce something which was "purely and simply the blues."

Joan continues: "I wanted to write songs that had a narrative feel to them, which were mostly inspired by observations on life.

"There's one song on the album called Something's Gotta Blow, which I wrote after standing on the tube one day.

"We were all packed in like sardines and I looked around and saw people getting more and more frustrated with the situation. I took my pen out right there and then and starting writing some lyrics. Some of my songs are inspired by people's behaviour, like The Shouting Stage, which is based around a couple about to reach the breaking point in their relationship.

"Mostly I have a good reason for writing a song and it's usually about something I've seen or feel at that time."

Now embarking on her latest tour, Joan tells me she cannot wait to "get out there and perform".

"Touring is all about interacting with the audience and when it works, it's like magic, it's like fairy dust," enthuses Joan. "When it's all gelling together with my band, there's no better feeling."

Away from music, Joan is quietly modest about her other significant achievements, including continued support to charities around the world such as the Prince's Trust and Paces, a charity for children with cerebral palsy.

Joan has also been awarded a number of honorary degrees and last year, with the help of Open University, realised one of her long-life ambitions - to achieve her own bachelor's degree in history.

"There's a song on my new album that I wrote called Blessed, because I do feel very blessed in my life," says Joan reflectively. "I know I've been lucky. In many ways I'm even luckier to be able to share those talents with others."

Joan Armatrading arrives on Sunday, February 25 at New Theatre, Oxford. Tickets: 0870 606 3500.