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Corinne Bailey Rae (born '''Corinne Bailey''' on 26 February 1979 ) is an English Singer and Songwriter who released her eponymous debut album '' Corinne Bailey Rae '' in February 2006. Rae was named the number-one predicted breakthrough act of 2006 in an annual BBC poll of music critics.1 The poll's predictions subsequently came true, as she became only the fourth female British act in history to have her first album debut at number one. She has been nominated for Grammy Award s and BRIT Awards and won two MOBO Awards . BIOGRAPHY Childhood Rae was born in Leeds , West Yorkshire to a Kittitian father and an English mother, and she was the eldest of three daughters. She used to be racially abused on a regular basis while growing up, even though her verbal attackers mistakenly thought she was of Iraq i origin. She says about the situation, "My sisters and I were different and people used to say, 'Ah, aren't they cute, the little chocolate children', and 'look at their hair'". "I know they were only being cute but it was over the top. Then people from other schools would shout, ' Paki ' (a commonly used racist term used in the UK) to me because it was the most common racist insult of the time. At least if you're going to do it, get it right". "I used to shout back, 'But my dad isn't from Pakistan, he's from St Kitts – so there!"2 She began her musical career at school where she studied classical , I suppose, but people think it must have been a Gospel church because of the whole, you know, black assumption", she says in reference to her multiracial background. "But it wasn't gospel at all, it was just your regular Brethren church, very middle-class, where we would sing these harmonies every Sunday. It was always my favorite part of the service, the singing".3 Rae later transferred to a Baptist church, where the choir would sing traditional Hymn s, and Primal Scream tunes. "We changed the words though", Rae states on her website. "We didn't want to offend the regular churchgoers, now did we?" Performing in church broadened Rae's musical horizons, and her love affair with making music was solidified after a local youth leader offered to buy her an Electric Guitar . In her mid-teens, she became obsessed with Rock legends Led Zeppelin , "I loved that band during my teens; I wanted, somehow, to follow in their footsteps, and to create music of my own". Rae formed an all-female Indie group called Helen, which was inspired by similar acts such as Veruca Salt and L7 . "It was the first time I'd seen women with guitars. They were kinda sexy – but feminist. I wanted to be like that, at the front of something".4 The group raised eyebrows on several fronts; in the white male-dominated world of indie music, they were an all-female group fronted by a mixed-race singer from Leeds. The moniker "Helen" also drew attention, albeit for not all the right reasons: "What can I say? We were 15 years old, and thought that Helen was a cheeky, indie kind of thing to do. It seemed clever at the time. Admittedly, it seems less so now". The group played many gigs around Leeds, including a memorable performance at Joseph's Well with Leeds-based band Swift, fronted by wildman rocker Royce Dunston. Despite this, the group became the first indie act to be signed to Heavy Metal record label Roadrunner Records , home to acts such as Slipknot , in 1995. The venture proved to be short-lived however after the bassist became pregnant and the group disbanded. " I Disappointed? I was gutted! I had no idea what to do next". Corinne has often stated that she is a proud Leeds United Football Club fan University life After the disappointment of Helen, Rae went on to attend the stuff and I realized I loved that music too". It was there also that she met Saxophone player Jason Rae, whom she eventually married in 2001 at age twenty-two. "I was Corinne Bailey. I added on Rae, my husband's name, when I got married. There's no hyphen; stops it being posh!" CAREER Over the space of the next three years, Rae began working on solo material – this time steering away from her indie past and embarking on a more "soulful" path. She collaborated with Leeds-based Funk group The New Mastersounds on the track "Your Love Is Mine", featured on their 2003 album ''Be Yourself'', released via One Note Records. The following year she again worked with another Leeds-based group, Homecut Directive , on the song "Come the Revolution", which was the first single from the group's debut album. In 2004, Rae got a breakthrough when she was signed by Global Talent Publishing and then approached by in July 2006 for Live From Abbey Road . Rae also received three nominations at the ", " Song Of The Year " (both for " Put Your Records On "), and " Best New Artist ". During the ceremony, she performed "Like a Star" and joined John Legend and John Mayer in a collaborative performance, providing accompanying vocals to Legend's "Coming Home" and Mayer's " Gravity ".5 Other activities and appearances
DISCOGRAPHY Albums
Singles Additional UK chart information
B-sides Album appearances AWARDS HISTORY
NOTES AND REFERENCES EXTERNAL LINKS
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