R&B Songstress Corinne Bailey Rae Undergoes a "Sea" Change
No one could have planned the album that became Corinne Bailey Rae's sophomore work, even though the determined young Brit tried mightily to impose her vision on The Sea. Life, and death, however, intervened.
Rae, who'll showcase the album on a five-week North American tour beginning Tuesday in Los Angeles, says she wanted “a heavier, more aggressive, more dynamic record that would have more contrast" than her self-titled 2006 debut album. “I wanted to co-produce it, I wanted to record it live to tape, and I wanted to use live musicians."
The title track, based on a family story about the death of her grandfather in a boating accident, dealt with grief, while the love declaration I'd Do It All Again emerged after she'd had a major row with her husband of seven years, musician Jason Rae.
On March 22, 2008, however, her world imploded when she learned that Jason had died of an accidental overdose of methadone and alcohol. She holed up in her home for months and put everything on hold while she grieved.
Although she has given a handful of in-depth interviews detailing Jason's death and how she dealt with it, she says she's ready to move on. “I am in this process, a really long process," she says. “I have to be conscious of what I'm saying, and I don't want to talk about it too much to people I don't really know."
