Corinne Bailey Rae

Corinne Bailey Rae blends contemporary R&B with broad influences drawn from pop, rock, and vintage soul traditions. Her self-titled debut album from 2006 quickly ascended the British album rankings thanks to the breakout track “Put Your Records On,” whereas her follow-up effort The Sea, issued in 2010 and steeped in neo-soul textures, earned a Mercury Prize nod. In 2011 she received the Grammy for Best R&B Performance with her rendition of Bob Marley’s “Is This Love,” then expanded her palette on the 2016 release The Heart Speaks in Whispers by incorporating airy folk-soul and funk elements. For her 2023 collection Black Rainbows she drew from an eclectic array of sonic directions, drawing inspiration from pieces assembled by Theaster Gates at Chicago’s Stony Island Arts Bank.

She displayed an early fascination with music, practicing classical violin before switching to electric guitar as a young teenager. Emulating ’90s alternative-rock figures such as L7, Veruca Salt, and Belly, she assembled her initial group, Helen. Though the outfit cultivated a loyal regional audience, it disbanded, prompting her enrollment at Leeds University for English literature studies. Employment at a local jazz venue during this period steered her toward soulful writing, and she eventually secured a contract with EMI that led to the February 2006 arrival of her first solo album. The project claimed the top spot on the U.K. chart, propelled by the number-two single “Put Your Records On,” and climbed to number four on the U.S. Billboard 200. Three Grammy nominations followed, along with an equal number of MOBO nods, two of which—Best U.K. Female and Best U.K. Newcomer—she claimed. The next year brought both a deluxe reissue and the live recording Live in London & NY, while she also appeared on Herbie Hancock’s Grammy-winning River: The Joni Letters.

Corinne Bailey Rae’s next full-length project, The Sea, was shaped profoundly by the loss of her husband, saxophonist Jason Rae. Although its creation unfolded amid difficult circumstances, the album achieved strong sales upon its January 2010 launch, landing inside the top ten on both sides of the Atlantic and earning a Mercury Prize shortlist. Early the following year she issued the brighter The Love EP, a five-track set featuring interpretations of material first cut by Prince, Bob Marley, and Paul McCartney & Wings. Her take on Marley’s “Is This Love” captured the Grammy for Best R&B Performance. While preparing her third studio album she stepped back from public view and wed longtime collaborator Steve Brown, known professionally as SJ Brown, in 2013. In February 2016 the track “Been to the Moon,” recorded with King’s Paris and Amber Strother, signaled the arrival three months later of the groove-oriented, folk-soul-leaning The Heart Speaks in Whispers. Co-produced chiefly by Bailey Rae and Brown, it rose to number two on the R&B chart. A year afterward she supplied a version of Coldplay’s “The Scientist” to the Fifty Shades Darker soundtrack, and in 2019 she contributed “Jersey Girl” to the Tom Waits tribute album Come On Up to the House: Women Sing Waits.

At the start of 2023 the charged, post-punk-inflected single “New York Transit Queen” introduced her fourth album. Issued that September, Black Rainbows took cues from the varied collection of works assembled by social-practice artist and professor Theaster Gates at Chicago’s Stony Island Arts Bank. The resulting material ranged across rock-driven pieces and spare piano ballads, highlighted by the nine-minute “Put It Down,” which evolves from an introspective ambient opening into an uplifting house climax.