estelle - is the lady colour blind - drop the charge sister

This lady has got the prime position on the officially for kids national chart in the UK and all due respect for getting there. She has made a few digs recently at the major labels and she has grounds for that from what I have read but pleeeeeeeze, drop the race issue estelle. The lady is complaining that there are not any black soul artists around and i take issue with that. The UK has embraced black artists for decades now perhaps more so than any other nation including america. From way back before I care to remember the black music scene has been ringing out loud and clear in england, jazz, rhythm and blues, soul, motown, electro, rap, hip-hop, funk, garage and house has featured prominently in the uk charts. I would struggle to find any records or cd's in my collection that are by a white artist to be honest so please - drop the charge estelle and take a look around.

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Candy
[this is good]
she has got great songs & good rhythm!
karlos
she has also got thousands of little white kids buying her recordings as well so what is she complaining about? the UK has a great cultural mix and i know historically the UK did the slavery thing and the colony thing and the empire thing but this is 2008 and things have changed, estelle needs to pay some respect to those buying her record in this country really, the people have paid their respect to her by spending their £'s
Candy
i know that (so - so), i know she is very famous in UK, but i didn't know your comment. these issues usually happen between singers - groups and fans.
SerenityLife
The lady is complaining that there are not any black soul artists around and i take issue with that.

Do you have a source for this? I am just curious to what she is saying. Meaning do you have a news paper article. You are extremely right about the UK community totally embracing musicians of African descent but since I am American I am not too sure of the racial climate in England to determine what she is referring to.

Check this out: Soul Patrol
karlos
I normally give source information if I take a story from one source and quote the article, in this case there was not merely one source, the issue made an appearance in a variety of on-line publications. Estelle was lashing out with most of her venom aimed at the label executives, that seemed the main theme. If memory serves i think the story ran in 'blues and soul' and the 'guardian on-line' among others but i need to check so don't hold me to it. I shall find some links for you serenity and post them up as soon as i can, so hold tight.
karlos
I have found two relevant articles for you and I will keep searching for the others music.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,2268835,00.html
music.guardian.co.uk/urban/story/0,,2268507,00.html
karlos
Estelle quote for you from the guardian interview - "It's hilarious," she says, speaking at the height of Duffy/Adele media mania a few weeks back. "I'm not mad at 'em - but I'm just wondering, how the hell is there not a single black person in the press singing soul? Adele ain't soul. She sounds like she heard some Aretha records once and she's got a deeper voice - that don't mean she's soul. That don't mean nothing to me in the grand scheme of my life as a black person. As a songwriter, I get what they do. As a black person, I'm like: you're telling ME this is MY music?
For More Info on her recent comments in the feature at blues and soul go to - www.bluesandsoul.com/feature/255/to_estelle_and_back


SerenityLife
Thank you. I am just trying to interpret this from a perspective I do not know which is a black person's perspective in the UK who may view this. This is the same argument though in a way how many African Americans feel about the **soul singers** like Justin Timberlake, Joss Stone, Amy Winehouse, etc..who have the package of **sounding black** and they are not physically black nor do they understand the struggles.

Though I will not openly bash anyone for I do appreciate the talents of Timberlake and Stone it is how the media is portraying them as R & B singers whereas in our case we (black Americans) see them as pop singers.

BUT!!

This goes back to a white singer who in my opinion had the best SOUL sound ever and she was OVERLOOKED. Her name was Timi Yuro. Now, you talk about SOULLLL. Though she was white the woman could feel BLACKNESS in tears of feeling like an outcast and hurt. There is a man who came onto my blog and made a comment about her saying to read information on her which I have but I have not finished. See here - his name is Oliver Penn and he knew Timi Yuro: Discovering Timi Yuro while needing a Maxwell fix

Timi Yuro was raised by a black nanny so I think she could understand during the time she was raised (50s - segregation ) that she felt the racial tensions in America as an Italian American. Timi Yuro passed away a few years ago but I have some blog posts on her if you are interested in sharing in learning more. In fact my very first blog post is about singer Timi Yuro and singer Maxwell.

Timi Yuro - Seriously in Love with Her Voice
http://www.last.fm/user/2Serenity/journal/2007/09/3/516173/

The comments in this post are good or you to understand the blue eyed soul connection:
http://www.last.fm/user/2Serenity/journal/2007/09/22/531384/

This is what we call in America the blue eyed soul movement. This was a phrase coined by a black DJ in America based out of Philadelphia.

See here: All God's Chillun Got Soul (written by a white man but very informative)

I am going to investigate more when I have time I really appreciate you sharing this with me.

Sorry for the long comment!!
karlos
The Music Industry has often used a white face to sing soul music and they call it marketing as far as I understand it. I believe that Estelle's point is that black artists do not get the support that they deserve from the major labels. That's her main drive it seems. Her complaint about there being no black artists appearing in the english press though was just not fair. Check these for a start
www.bluesandsoul.com - www.djmag.com - www.jazzwise.com and www.straightnochaser.co.uk - You will notice Estelle is black and she is all over the front page of Blues and Soul right now. The UK is not entirely free from racism but we are doing pretty well in comparison to most nations. I can not say I am proud of the current climate of cultural harmony but being positive, it's not a disgrace either, far from it I am glad to say. Things are getting better here and so things are moving in the right direction.

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