Leeds, UK · neo-soul

Corinne Bailey Rae

1 upcoming festival

'Put Your Records On' warmth and a fearless experimental streak since — a career that swerved from café-soul comfort into art-rock and electronic left turns.

Corinne Bailey Rae is a singer, songwriter and guitarist from Leeds. She emerged in the mid-2000s with a self-titled debut whose light, acoustic-leaning soul made her one of the more widely heard British vocalists of the period. Before that she had fronted an indie band in Leeds, and traces of that guitar-based background have surfaced repeatedly in her later work.

Subsequent albums moved away from the debut's format, taking in heavier subject matter, jazz and gospel textures, and eventually a more abrasive, experimental palette drawing on free jazz, rock and electronics. She has worked with a range of collaborators across jazz and soul, and her live sets tend to move between the early songs and the more exploratory material.

neo-soul