Helen Boulding Sings Her Heart Out

It’s Saturday afternoon and Helen Boulding is sitting on the side of the road in her car with her cell phone in hand as the traffic whizzes by.

“ I wanted to be at the studio before we started the interview but I’m running behind schedule, as usual. I’m stationary though!” She laughs.

The first thing that strikes you about Helen Boulding is her cheerfulness. It’s this kind of exuberance that she has poured into her lifelong obsession to become an n established singer/songwriter. What’s unusual about this young singer, born and raised in Sheffield, is the list of favourites she credits for summoning the nightingale within. Unlike a lot of her peers, Boulding was born of 70’s folk, country, and soul.

“It wasn’t the norm that’s for sure but when I was nine my parents moved the piano and record collection into my bedroom and it just ended up staying there. I was listening to everything from Bonnia Raitt and James Taylor to Joni Mitchell and Crowded House. My Mom was a bit of a rocker but my Dad was into the folk music. I even listened to Engelberg Humperdink.”

Coming from a large family of six children there was always more than enough excitement to provide Boulding with inspiration for her songs.

“When you come from a big family there is so much going on. It’s very colourful so I would have to say it influenced me a lot.

So what do you get when you combine a colourful family, a couple of dodgy boyfriends and an uncle who has a rockin’ pub?

“Well I’m really song based. I’m a little bit Cheryl Crow meets Sinead O’Connor but without the American twang and more of a British feel you could say.”

Even more impressive than her ability to play the piano, guitar, flute and saxophone, is her unbelievably soulful and resonating voice. It’s this skilled voice that is at the forefront of all of her songs and rightly so. At thirteen she tracked down none other than Annie Lennox’s vocal coach and convinced him to give her singing lessons.

“I had found out who he was during some interviews that Annie did and told myself that I had to get this guy. He wasn’t going to teach me at first because I was so young but I had brought a long something that I had written and played it for him. That seemed to work. He ended up coaching me until he passed away. It was a terribly sad thing since he had become a sort of mentor for me.”

To her credit Boulding has an impressive portfolio of writing projects including songs for major movie soundtracks, Natalie Imbruglia, Annie Lennox and Shakespeare’s Sister. Since then her, Housework EP earned noteworthy acclaim and the ear of Main Spring Recordings.

“That was five years ago. It had such a natural groove that it was easy to record. Now, I Don’t Know What I Want is coming out on 20 February. I’m very excited about it. After that I’ll be touring and trying to get a bit more exposure.”

Her growing list of fans will be happy to know that this lady has enough songs for ten albums. Something a lot of musicians can’t say, and after the ten albums?

“I’d like to get married and have some children, a few children. I come from a big family?” She laughs again.

With more heart and soul in her guitar strumming finger tips than most people have in the whole of their lives, it won’t be long before Helen Boulding sings her way into the hearts of music lovers world wide.




www.helenboulding.com

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