Joan Armatrading: “I don’t feel anxious when I write songs because I just know I can do it” | Music | Entertainment

Joan Armatrading’s new album, catchily titled How Did This Happen And What Does It Now Mean, includes the powerful I’m Not Moving, which she wrote after seeing a young man behave aggressively in public. Alongside the tender I Gave You My Keys, about moving on after a breakup, it’s one of several songs on the record that she wrote based on direct inspiration or through friends stories.

This is not necessarily the norm, smiles the British singer-songwriter, known for being very careful about her private life. “I don’t forever think, ‘That’s a great line for a song,’” she explains. “You still have to live your life. People have told me their stories and said, “Please put this in a song!” But I’ve never done that. My songwriting doesn’t work like that.

Over a distinguished career spanning more than half a century, Armatrading’s musical output has been so varied and prolific that she has won Grammys in the Blues and Rock categories, as well as an award for lifetime achievement at the Radio 2 Folk Awards.

The first British singer-songwriter to achieve success in the United States, where she took off in the 1970s, Armatrading was awarded an MBE and a CBE for her services to music, charity and equal rights .

Yet her pioneering beginnings began as a simple act of teenage rebellion.

Born in St. Kitts, Armatrading moved to Birmingham at the age of seven. The third of six children, his carpenter father Amos was a talented amateur guitarist.

But when Joan started writing songs at age 14, Amos refused to help teach her how to play guitar. Laughing as he recalls his difficult beginnings in music, Armatrading says: “My father wouldn’t let me touch his guitar. He hid it from me – and that’s why I wanted to play guitar.

“I saw a guitar in a pawn shop and told my mother about it. She swapped two of her prams for this guitar. I started playing then and I still have that first guitar.

Armatrading left school at 15 to help her family, but then lost her job as a typist in a furniture factory because she continued to practice her guitar during lunch breaks.

At that point, Amos had helped his daughter reluctantly – with some limitations. “Dad taught me how to tune my guitar,” Armatrading remembers. “Tuning is probably the most important aspect of playing guitar, but Dad didn’t show me anything else: no chords, just tuning.”

Armatrading Sr’s style helped her daughter stand out, as she explains: “Dad tuned the guitar in the strangest way. It was so strange that I haven’t seen anyone else tune a guitar like that since. My parents saw me succeed and they were proud of me, but they were proud of all their children.

The young star was just 21 when she released her debut album Whichever’s For Us in 1972, and her debut Top 10 single Love And Affection followed in 1976. A year later, she got a huge break in the United States – thanks to Monty Python.

Megastar comedy troupe member Eric Idle loved Joan’s music and recommended her to bosses at hit US TV show Saturday Night Live. Once Armatrading sang Love And Affection and Down To Zero on the show, the Grammys quickly followed.

“Since then, I haven’t met Eric,” admits Armatrading, before bursting out laughing: “If he reads this: thank you Eric!

On the phone from her home in Surrey, Armatrading is friendly and laughs a lot, but avoids any questions about her personal life.

The singer entered into a civil relationship with her partner, artist Maggie Butler, in 2011. She has said she wants as many people as possible to hear her music, without having any preconceptions about who sings it.

It’s a firm approach, very much in line with how Armatrading approached being the first British singer to write her own songs and achieve major success in the United States. When asked if she felt like a pioneer, Armatrading laughed again.

“No. I was just doing my thing, being myself. Maybe some people decided to become pioneers, but I don’t know how you would do that. I didn’t know how to be anything else. Nobody could not persuade me to be anything other than what I am.

Armatrading is equally upfront about obtaining the CBE.

She received this honor in 2020, the same year she became a trustee of the Prince’s Trust. “I didn’t hesitate to accept it,” says Armatrading. “Each country in the world has its equivalent honors. In Britain, the only thing that causes confusion is the word “Empire”. We all know that the Empire no longer exists.

“We need to find a different word for that ‘E,’ which will happen. This word should not mean that we are saying, “Do not allow your country to honor you.” It’s very unfair.

Having already been awarded the MBE in 2001, Armatrading believes the egalitarianism of the honors system should be applauded, saying: “When you go to the ceremonies, they are full of ordinary people, if I can call people that: nurses , guards, sweepers. . They are not the ones receiving the advertising.

“Why take away honor from an ordinary man? Obtaining a CBE has been a privilege that I truly appreciate.

Throughout his 52-year career, Armatrading’s songs have excelled at telling the story of the “ordinary guy,” with vivid depictions of everyday struggles set to music that encompasses funk, pop and soul, as well as rock, blues and folk.

Yet she displays a charming modesty about her talent, insisting that it comes so naturally to her that she is reluctant to accept praise. She explained: “I can’t take any credit for what I do. What I have is absolutely a gift. It’s my job to use it to the best of my ability, but I don’t know how to go about it.

Armatrading sympathized with Paul McCartney, whom she had heard speak of his gift for melody.

She explains: “I have no idea how my songwriting works. From scratch, I can just make this… thing. I don’t even have to think about the melody. I don’t feel anxiety when I write songs, because I just know I can do it.

“There’s no hand-wringing or pacing.”

In 2001, Armatrading completed a five-year open university degree in history.

Besides art and literature, additional subjects in his diploma’s core course included music. But she laughs: “I didn’t particularly enjoy studying music.

“It’s only because I want to write the way I write. I don’t want to think about music in a restrictive way.

Of course, a five-year degree is an unusual feat for a successful singer, but Armatrading is generally modest as she recalls: “Back then, when I was on tour, the television would shut down for the night.

“The Open University would be the only program I could watch when I got back to my hotel.

“So I saw him all the time, and it always ended with the announcer saying, ‘Send for a pack…’ One day I thought, ‘I’ll send for that pack.’ It was difficult, as I had to post essays from wherever I was traveling around the world, earlier than other students, as I would post from Australia, Europe, and the United States to meet deadlines.

“My tour manager had to lug all my study books from city to city. He says he worked as hard as me. Even though it was difficult, I really enjoyed it.

Having also run the New York City Marathon at the age of 57, it seems there are few things in life that the determined Armatrading can’t accomplish. She writes, produces and plays all the instruments herself on her new album – her 21st – which is typically adventurous and infectious.

Very few stars, other than Prince, have been so versatile.

But Armatrading admits failure: “I wish I could play the saxophone. I can play a little bit, but I can’t really say that I can play the saxophone to any degree.

“I keep thinking I’m going to get on with it and try it one day. But the things I have to play, I can play pretty well.

His new album, with an intriguing title, focuses on world affairs. Armatrading is concerned about the polarization of society and reflects: “This is an issue that concerns many people. We’re in a strange place where no one knows how to fix it.

“We lack proper communication because no one wants to say bad things. It’s a mess. But I think it has to get better.

“Otherwise we’re talking about the end of the world, and I don’t think we have that memo yet.”

After Armatrading’s previous album, Consequences, returned her to the Top 10 in 2021 after a 38-year hiatus, she is thrilled to be commercially successful again.

Has she already fallen in love with music in the meantime?

Armatrading finds the question hard to believe. “No! No, no, no, no. There followed a pause – and his biggest laugh yet. “You can put that as a ‘no’.”

After 52 years, Joan Armatrading still has the last word and continues to do things her way.

Joan Armatrading’s new album How Did This Happen And What Does It Now Mean is out now via BMG