Corinne Bailey Debuts New Material In London Show
Corinne Bailey Rae, whose new CD titled The Sea will be released in February, had a long-awaited live return with an emotional show in London on Monday (November 23). The concert at the Tabernacle was her first full show since the March 2008 death of her husband from an accidental drug overdose.
Bailey Rae performed several songs from The Sea, her follow-up to her 2006 self-titled CD that included the Smooth Jazz Top 20 hits “Put Your Records On,” “Like a Star” and “Trouble Sleeping.” According to a report from Billboard, Bailey Rae played just three songs from that album: “Like a Star” and an encore of “Put Your Records On” and “Til It Happens to You.” She instead focused on the deeply personal songs from the new album, much of which Billboard reports is a departure from the sound of her debut, which peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 in 2007.
Highlights of the show, says Billboard, included the emotional ballads “I’d Like to Call It Beauty” and “I’d Do It All Again” and the upbeat “Paris Nights and New York Mornings,” likely to be the first full single release from the album. She also performed the new songs “Are You Here?” and “Paper Dolls.”
Bailey Rae, 30, has also had smooth jazz singles with two collaborations, the first with “River” from Herbie Hancock’s Grammy-winning River: The Joni Letters. The second was “Free,” a song from an album by bassist Marcus Miller.
Bailey Rae will be coming to the U.S. for a series of intimate shows that will be an exclusive preview of the new album. Tickets are sold out, and a portion of the proceeds from ticket sales will benefit the charity Pump Aid. There are two shows in Los Angeles December 2 at the Hotel Café; a show December 7 at Hiro Ballroom in New York; and a show December 9 in Joe’s Pub in New York.