Singer-songwriter Sam Browne is determined that nothing will stop her from making music.
Raised on Sonning Common, the 58-year-old practically lost her singing voice in 2007.
Currently, she is working with her friend Danny Shoger and brother Pete Brown to produce her eighth album. number eight.
They used Melodyne, an audio pitch correction tool new to Sam.
she said: It’s kind of 80’s electronica.
“Danny and I wrote it, recorded it, and we both did it all. It’s all synths and all the vocals are auto-tuned.”
The daughter of singer/guitarist Joe Brown and session singer Vicky Brown, Sam followed her parents into the music industry and had a Top 4 hit in 1989. stop!
She learned to play the piano and has released seven albums of her own work, as well as session sessions with artists such as George Harrison, Jon Lord, Gary Moore, Small Faces, Adam Ant and Nick Cave.・He was also a singer. She also sang with Jules Holland’s Rhythm and Blues Orchestra.
In November 2002 she sang horse to water Concert for George at the Royal Albert Hall to mark the first anniversary of Harrison’s death.
Sam’s father closed the show with a ukulele performance See you in a dream.
Sam had to change course when she started having some health problems affecting her ability to sing. That’s when she came up with Sonning Common’s International Ukulele Club.
she said:
“I tried different things and had two surgeries to remove the polyps, but that was not the cause of the problem.
“It felt very physical — it still feels very physical — but I imagine there must be a psychological side to it as well. My brain was a little crazy.
“I had two children by myself and was trying to find different ways to make a living.
“To be honest, I think I was lucky.
“Some came first. I met some great people.
“The name Sonning Common’s International Ukulele Club was a real joke, because I didn’t expect it to last. I regretted such a wine-inspired name a few times. Then People’s Ukulele.” There were Brigade, Jumping Flea and North London Collective.
“At first, all the clubs grew to about 60 people. We thought this was probably the limit for teaching at one time, so we formed new clubs and just grew in size.”
The ukulele clubs are all under one umbrella, the Fabulous Ukulele Club, which Sam runs and says “spreading the joy of ukulele.”
Sam, who has children Vicky and Mohan, now 29 and 27, lives in Yeovil but returns to South Oxfordshire regularly.
she said:
“I still play bass in Wyfold’s band. It’s very fun.”
cover artwork for number eight A doll-like version of Sam and doll One of 12 tracks.
she said: We were talking and he said, ‘Really, in some ways the whole album is fake.
“We did a photo shoot of the dolls, but of course in this day and age there are all sorts of different things about how we look and how we interact through images and what those images are. Ideas and questions arise… I mean, I don’t feel critical about the idea, really I’m not, because social media has a lot to do with presenting ourselves the way young people want to see it. Because I think it’s optimal. I think that’s actually a very positive thing.
“But I think it’s a little sad that people feel like they have to have surgery to make themselves look a certain way, but it’s a choice. think.
“That said, I’m no better than anyone else, I love makeup and it’s like an early morning art lesson.
“Henry has a great make-up lady named Jade Soar, and she did all the make-up for the album. She’s amazing.”
• number eight is available as a digital download and CD from leading music stores such as HMV, Amazon, Spotify and Apple Music, priced at around £7.99 in MP3 format and around £14.75 on CD.