EP169 - Carleen Anderson - Singer, Songwriter, Composer, Producer, Arranger, Writer...

Episode 169: Carleen Anderson - Singer, Songwriter, Composer,
Producer, Arranger, Writer...


My latest podcast guest Carleen Anderson really
needs no introduction.


A genuine world class artist... She's such a huge talent in her
own right and another to enter Paul Weller's orbit during the
solo years - providing us with some very special moments on
record and live.


Throughout her solo career, she’s been featured alongside a
multitude of established artists from a wide array of musical
genres - Nigel Kennedy, Dr. John, Omar, Chrissie Hynde, Jocelyn
Brown, Meshell Ndgeocello, Paul McCartney, Brand New Heavies,
Incognito, Ramsay Lewis and more...


The Huffington Post called her "Without doubt one of the all-time
great female vocalists... Carleen must be seen to be believed..."


Amy Winehouse once said "Carleen Anderson - She's someone who I
would sit around the venue all day, just to hear her
soundcheck..."


On this exclusive podcast chat, we hear about her upbringing in
Houston, Texas where she was raised by her paternal grandparents
during the civil rights movement in the 1960s. Reared up on the
sounds rooted in Gospel music inherited from the Pentecostal
church where the pastor, David Anderson, Sr. her paternal
Grandfather, and her Grandmother Alberta, raised her from an
infant.


We'll hear stories of her musical family. She is the daughter of
soul singer Vicki Anderson, step-daughter of singer, songwriter,
Bobby Byrd... and god-daughter of James Brown!. Her birth Father,
Dr. Reuben P. Anderson, Sr., is the pastor of his own church in
Compton, California, further extending the connection Carleen
still retains in gospel music.


We'll hear about her relocation with her son to England in 1990
and the just-by-chance beginning of her professional career as
the vocalist, composer, arranger and recording artist for
Young Disciples.


The band were shortlisted for the Mercury Music Prize in 1992.


Carleen released her debut solo album in 1994, and was nominated
for a Independent Artist Brit Award in 1995.


Our connections with Paul Weller begin with Young
Disciples as their album was recorded at Solid Bond
Studio, and take us through Paul's debut solo album through
standout highlights on Stanley Road -especially
their spine-tingling shared vocals on Wings of
Speed, a co-produced Carleen Anderson album called
Blessed Burden in 1998, and performances on
record and on stage around Illumination and
Studio 150 - complete with two DVD releases of
those Weller gigs...


Carleen was named Jazz FM’s UK Vocalist of 2013 and four years
later, musicologist Gilles Peterson presented her with a
Worldwide FM Lifetime Achievement Award.


These days, Carleen is focused on establishing a platform to
expand the stylings of music storytelling theatre.


Her most recent album - Cage Street Memorial -
was nominated in 2018 for Jazz FM’s Innovation of the Year. The
project was more than just an album of original music, it was
also a theatre production written and performed by Carleen, and
an autobiographical book of the same name.


Since 2020, she has been working on what she describes as "a
blended-roots Opera called MELIOR Opus Griot" with a regional
premiere in Devon and a worldwide double album release scheduled
for 2024.


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