Helicopter

Born Jackie Joyce in 1963 in Dundee, Scotland, the singer-songwriter blends an array of musical approaches that resist easy classification. Having never met her Ghanaian birth father, she passed a nomadic early life alongside her mother and stepfather. After pursuing musical studies during her school years, she took on backing-vocal duties for a Latin-focused ensemble and served as featured singer on Mouth Music’s early-90s albums Mo-Di and Shorelife. Several further years were spent alongside the group Ambisonic. Throughout this period she cultivated her own songwriting voice and adopted the “helicopter girl” identity. By the late 90s she ranked among the first artists signed to Instant Karma, the fledgling imprint established by former Warner Brothers Records executive Rob Dickens. Her 2000 debut How To Steal The World merged soul, jazz and trip-hop grooves with such boldness that numerous reviewers hailed it as one of the year’s most confident first releases. The deeply personal words on standout cuts such as “Escape Cloud” and “Cry Mississippi” enhanced the swirling intensity of the tribal percussion. Although the record earned a Mercury Music Prize nomination that July, wider sales did not materialise and media attention soon faded. A understated reappearance followed in summer 2004 when she issued her sophomore set Voodoo Chic.