CORINNE Bailey Rae isn’t someone, you would assume, who shouts at the telly. 

The soft-voiced songwriter who has produced musical honey with songs such as Girls Put Your Records On and Like A Star projects a thoughtful image, not that of a ranting Goggleboxer. 

However, the Leeds-born lady who is appearing in Glasgow tonight explains she does exactly that. 

READ MORE: Oran Mor: Snout will leave audience thinking about animal welfare

“My mum is really political,” she says, smiling. 

“When we were young she would take us on marches to boycott South Africa and apartheid. We marched against Thatcher and the Poll Tax. My mum was always very aware. 

“What this meant was every time we watched TV, whether it was the news or adverts, my mum would provide a commentary; ‘Oh, look, that’s ridiculous, just look at what they’re wearing’. 

“She didn’t know what she was doing was critiquing, deconstructing the film she was watching, but that’s exactly what she did. 

“I didn’t realise this at the time. I just thought this was how everyone watched TV. It was only later when I lived in student halls and watched TV with student friends and I’d be talking all the way through Hollyoaks and taking it apart that it was pointed out.” 

The singer laughs; “I didn’t know you were supposed to watch TV and not make a noise.”

Corinne Bailey Rae is far from the stereotypical bland pop star of today. 
Her new album The Heart Speaks In Whispers reveals lyrics which are thought out and thoughtful, suggesting a huge appreciation for the basics in life.  

READ MORE: Oran Mor: Snout will leave audience thinking about animal welfare

But then the 37-year-old grew with an awareness that little could be taken for granted. 

Her parents, her dad Caribbean and her mum from Yorkshire, split when she was young. 

“My mum was a teaching assistant on a fairly low wage, my dad self-employed. We never went abroad. We didn’t have a phone, or a car. We didn’t get new clothes, except at Christmas. 

“In terms of world poverty we didn’t struggle but I guess we did suffer in a British sense. And when the Poll Tax came in that was a really big thing. 

“I remember one time my mum saying ‘I’m just going out for a bit. If anyone comes and tries to get in and take our furniture don’t answer the door.’ It was a big thing to have someone demand £100 from you.”

Were there problems growing up mixed race? “Yes, I definitely felt different, but lucky in that I didn’t experience racism too badly. People would call you names but I felt that didn’t go too far into my identity.   

“When I was a kid I was described as half-caste, then brown, then black. 
“But now I  like to say my dad’s from the Caribbean, my mum’s English. And these two identities constantly shaped me.”

Politics, it seems seeped into the young Corinne’s soul at around the same time as music. 

“I studied violin from the age of six. I’d do music lessons at school, then orchestra after school, I’d be in the orchestra on Saturday morning and I’d play music at church on Sunday. 

“I’ve always taken it seriously,” she adds, laughing at her own intensity; “I would get upset if the guitarist in our band took a holiday.”

Did she never feel like forgetting music for a while and going off to  chase boys? 

“Well, doing music and chasing boys ran hand in hand,” she says, smiling. “And I was in a band which included my two best friends and my boyfriend. It was as if we were taking on the world.”

Corinne, however, wanted more from life than music/male attention and studied for a degree in English Literature at Leeds University. 

But university wasn’t nirvana. The demographic left the teenager a little gobsmacked. 

“I’d never been around so many middle class people,” she recalls. 

“I had never met rich children and then you meet these kids who have such a different perspective. I thought ‘How can you think these thoughts?’”

The singer songwriter continued to appear with her band through the student years. 

It wasn’t a huge surprise when fame arrived in 2005 with her hit single, Like A Star. 

She was 26  and appeared to have the world at her feet but in 2008, her Scots husband Jason Rae died of an accidental overdose of methadone and alcohol. 

Isn’t a great songwriter usually inspired by losing love – or finding love?

“Yes, that’s often the case because the emotional connection with someone is so rare and so powerful. 

“It’s a bit like the film Gravity, we’re all on a planet spinning through infinite space and the idea of being able to reach out and catch hold of someone, when you find that the sense of connection is incredible.” 

Bailey Rae found that connection again with producer Steve Brown. The pair had been friends for years, but fell in love and married in 2013. 

Now, she’s set to return to Scotland, but does it produce a bittersweet experience, a reminder of her late husband?

“Yes, but I’ll always feel this connection to Scotland. 

“I’ve been back many times, especially to Aberdeen, where my family lives. 

“And Scotland will always be really special to me. I feel partly Scottish. I learned so much history from Jason, I heard so many stories, and I learned of a real independence of spirit.”

Corinne, who continues to live in Leeds, continues to be fascinated by politics. 

But what does her album title mean? “It means there is so much chaos and noise around. 

“There’s a worry our inner voice won’t be heard. It’s about listening to our dreams and subconsciousness and not being bombarded by anything that threatens our identities.”

The conversation and her reflections evoke thoughts of a recent interview given by the Who, when Daltrey and Townsend bemoan the fact no one writes good songs anymore except rap artists.  

READ MORE: Oran Mor: Snout will leave audience thinking about animal welfare

Pop songs, say the rockers, have nothing to say anymore. Clearly they weren’t thinking of Corinne Bailey Rae, the telly shouter. But the songwriter agrees with their overview.  

“Music is more about pace and production. And I agree about hip hop. But I still believe songs can carry a message, and a melody and harmony.”

She adds, with a magnanimous smile; “And you know, it’s good to get trashed by your heroes. It makes you work harder.”

l Corinne Bailey Rae, Oran Mor, Glasgow, tonight at 7.30pm.