Set to play the all new Library Stage at Tramlines this July, piano-pop supremo, Rae Morris, has a quick chat with us about, well, her life in music.
The first record I ever bought
A Boyzone one. I can’t remember exactly which one it was. I got it at Woolworths in Blackpool town centre, walked out of the shop with it proudly in my hands, immediately dropped it and smashed the cover! I’m still devastated.
The first gig I ever went to
S Club 7 at what was the MEN Arena. I was ten-years-old.
The first song I ever performed live
I sang a duet of ‘Part of Your World’ from The Little Mermaid in a school assembly with my classmate Jess Harwood.
One song I wish I wrote
‘She’s Always a Woman’ by Billy Joel.
One song I wish was never made
‘Lady in Red’ by Chris De Burgh reminds me of all the grown-up parties I had to go along to with my Mum and Dad when I was a kid. It’s such a dreary, smarmy song and by the point it started playing adults would start smooching and dancing. I remember it making me squirm with embarrassment and I’d want to go home.
I first fell in love with music when
I used to dance around the living room with my mum to a Harry Connick Jr live concert VHS we had. She’d also sing So Long, Farewell from The Sound of Music to me when I was still sleeping in a cot. I swear I can remember trying to sing along with her but now that I think of it, I probably would have been too young.
A song I can’t get out of my head at the minute
The new Clean Bandit song is always in my head. It’s just the chopped up instrumental chorus bit, which is kind of annoying because it’s basically just a series of my own made-up noises going round and round.
A record which reminds me of a specific time and place
Feist’s The Reminder was one of the first albums I really loved and listened to on repeat. It was around the time I was leaving high school and going to sixth form college. I’d take the bus for an hour each direction every day and pretty much only listen to that. It was an emotionally significant time for me.
Music allows me to
Wake up every day with a feeling of excitement and wonder.
