AN INTERVIEW WITH CLASSICAL SINGER CARLY PAOLI DURING HER UK TOUR WITH BGT WINNERS, COLLABRO, FOR VOXX MAGAZINE

You might not have heard of her until now, but British-born Carly Paoli is a wonderfully talented classical singer with a wealth of experience and a gorgeous personality, coming towards the end of her tour with Britain’s Got Talent winners Collabro. Entering 28-year-old Carly’s dressing room at the Grimsby Auditorium, I’m met with a warm reception and bright smiles. I try to draw my eyes away from the enormous case of make-up and focus on the job at hand. I’m here to talk music, and what a talk it is…

To begin with, how have you been finding this tour?

This tour has been like a completely new experience for me. I don’t think I could have been in better company for my first tour. It’s been full on, but every place has had a fantastic reception so it’s been really nice. I went to Glasgow last week, Stirling – that was wonderful, you know just to go to all these different places, lots of them that I haven’t visited before. So it’s been the best way to go in and discover a new place, a lovely way to experience a new city or town.

Do you have time to look round each place then?

We’ve made time, yeah. Because we’ve usually stayed in hotels along the way which has meant the following morning we’ve been able to go to the town centre and have a cup of tea or coffee, look around the shops, or we’ve gone earlier to the next venue and had a shop there. Me and Mum are shopaholics, so my poor Dad’s made time for us.

So you’ve bought a few nice things!

I have, yeah, and got to stock up for Christmas along the way.

So how long are you touring for?

Well, this tour started on October 24 and we officially finish on December 2. Then I get home to West Sussex for one day and the following day I’m in Sloane Square for the Children in the Arts concert for Classic FM. After that I come back and have another concert in my local church to help build a roof, which is nice, and I’m really looking forward to that. They’ve made it really Christmassy so it should be lovely. Then it’s on to Bari in Italy. I fly out there for a concert in the basilica. I come back and then I fly to New York on the twentieth where I have two more concerts, one at the city hall.

Have you been to New York before?

I have, yeah. I performed there two years ago at Carnegie Hall, but this is really exciting because I’ve got my album now and so I’ve got something to show. I’m singing with The Tenors, who you may have seen sing at the Queen’s birthday celebration last year. And they’re a fab group, they really are.

And what got you interested in classical music in the first place, rather than more conventional genres?

I think honestly it’s just the voice that I’ve got. I fell in love with music as young as three years old; I was singing to the Disney movies. And then I loved the MGM musicals with people like Julie Garland and Barbara Streisand. They became sort of my idols who I followed, but it was at nine years old when I started having lessons. A lady heard me singing at Stagecoach and told my mum I should have private lessons and that I had a good voice. And from day one it was always a classical sound that was my default sound. Then obviously it richens and develops as you get older. We always laughed because my voice was always bigger than my body, so you have to wait to eventually grow into it.

That’s cool. So what’s your thought process before going on stage? How is that feeling that all those people will soon be listening to you.

Yeah, I was actually talking about this yesterday with my mum and dad, who have been on tour with me all the way. This must be the 22nd or 23rd tour date and I still get nervous. I kind of thought by now I would have overcome the butterflies as such, but every time I’m stood at the side of the stage I still get butterflies. I always say a prayer; I never go on stage without praying. And then you get on and the first minute or so is the nervous bit but then you settle into it and you really love the room. It’s just a wonderful feeling.

Do you have any particular way you prepare to go on stage?

I think it really helps to have a routine, doing the same thing night after night. Sitting and doing my make-up is my little downtime. I curl my hair and put it all up too. I’ve got better at that. I still have my bad hair days, but I have got better as I’ve gone along. Then I have dinner and at around 7.30 I warm up, spend some time doing my scales. I’ve been taking a keyboard along with me to quite a few events if they don’t have a piano because actually while I’m here in my dressing room I’ve been learning the songs for the next concert, which is mental but you know, there’s a lot that happens in these dressing rooms as we go along. I always choose to drink honey and hot water to keep my voice happy. It’s nice to not have to think about it too much.

So have you found your work is generally well received?

Well, I mean this is Collabro’s tour so they stand on their own from their success in Britain’s Got Talent, but I’ve had beautiful comments each night and it’s been a real pleasure looking at my social media and seeing the lovely things that people have put, like the way that my music has touched them, moved them, because that’s why I make it as such. You want to create an emotion for the audience. A common piece of feedback I’ve received is “We’ve never heard of you until today, and we’re so pleased that you’re here singing for us.” I really hope that I can embrace more people with my music and that they enjoy it as much as I do. I’ve even had the chance to meet the audience in each show. I always come out during the interval to meet people and to sign albums or programmes, so that’s been a really special part because it’s not something I’ve had the opportunity to do before. I’ve never been in that situation. It’s just been a really lovely experience and I feel like I’ve learnt a lot as well on this journey.

So what kinds of lessons have had the most impact?

I think it’s probably the art of primarily singing with four boys as opposed to one. I’ve dueted in the past but it’s always just been with one tenor, so to go on is actually really lovely in a group. It’s not something I’ve had the chance to do as I’m usually on my own. I do perform on my own in this show too, but we also do two duets together and I’ve really loved that, just creating rich harmonies. Four voices can add another element to a song that you’ve not been able to do before. Meeting people, as I say, that’s been really lovely, but I’ve also had to learn to run around the venue, where you don’t know each venue, to find your way around to get to front of house. It’s been exciting for me and my family because my dad’s been the driver and my mum’s been with me all the way, and then of course my manager keeps popping in and out. As a team we’ve got really good at it and we’re going to miss it when it’s finished, definitely.

Well, I’m sure you’ll do another one.

Yeah, I hope so, soon. I mean, I have got my own concert on February 15 at Cadogan Hall in Chelsea. That’s something that I’m excited about. I’ve got a 60 piece orchestra joining me at that venue, and Steven Mercurio is coming to conduct – he’s a Grammy award-winning conductor from New York. The Tenors, who I’m singing with in New York, are going to perform there and also Federico Paciotti, who is a young tenor from Italy who I had the pleasure of performing with on two occasions, one in the Roman Forum when I sang for the Pope’s Jubilee and the other was an occasion called La Dolce Vita.

So have you done a lot over in Italy then? And how did the performance for the Pope come about?

I have, yeah. My mother’s Italian so it’s a place I grew up in as much as Mansfield I suppose. I spent all my summers out there and it was a place that gave me the chance to grow as an artist and perform. I gained so much performance experience there when I was young, just in piazzas or something, but you know it was five times a week so it was priceless really. It really started in 2015 when I performed at Terme di Caracalla, which is the Roman baths where the three tenors first premiered for the football. It was when the World Cup was being held in Italy, and sat in the audience on that evening was a representative of Pope Francis. It was him who contacted my management afterwards. He said we really love the Ave Maria that Carly sung at the beginning of that show and would we possibly be able to adopt it as the official song for the Jubilee. And that’s what happened. So naturally my whole world moved over to Rome for a little bit while that Jubilee year was taking place, and the song that I’ve been performing in Collabro’s show is one called ‘Time for Mercy’. It was the song that closed this special evening in the heart of the Roman Forum. It was nominated the Year of Mercy by Pope Francis, hence where the title of the song came from. Actually, it was taken out of his book; A Time for Mercy was the name of the first chapter.

Wow, it sounds like exciting stuff then.

It’s just lovely to see how different things unfold out of the unexpected. Never would I have thought that there’d be somebody sat in the audience that night in Rome that could have changed my life, and they really did.

So how did it feel to get that call?

It was big! I mean, I kind of thought, “Ok”. They explained what it meant because at first I thought “The Roman Catholic Jubilee, right…” I’m a Christian so I did my homework and I went over to Rome and met with Monsignor Andreatta, who is the private secretary of Pope Francis. We had a lovely dinner at his house where he took me round the archive of all the books from all the Jubilees of the past. What normally happens is the Jubilee happens every 25 or 50 years, unless the Pope declares an extraordinary Jubilee because of turbulent times. So I was looking through these books and there must have been 60 or 70 of them going centuries back and he was explaining that my song and my name and that evening at the Roman Forum would go into this book. That was just… well, I was becoming a piece of history, which was really, really, really special. That’s so precious to me.

That does sound amazing. But coming back to this tour, what are the guys from Collabro like to work with?

They’re sweethearts. They really are. They’ve all got different characters and it’s been lovely getting to know them all over the tour. They’re quite funny as well. Matt in particular is quite a joker and it’s always quite interesting when they start talking on stage. Some nights you get to know their script and what they’re going to say but then sometimes they deviate and it becomes really funny backstage when you’re listening. We usually all have dinner together, and Phillipa, who’s the support act, is lovely as well. She really has a fabulous voice. So yeah, we’ve had a blast. We really have. Like I say, we all have our dinner and we all encourage each other not to eat the pudding, though we usually end up doing it anyway. I think that’s probably what I’m going to miss the most. I’m going to miss Collabro and the band and the whole crew. You kind of become a family in a very short period of time because you see each other daily.

You said before that you like to go out and meet your audience. Have you met anybody particularly memorable on this tour?

Well, I met a boy in Blackpool. He came before the show because he was a fan and he wanted to get my signature, and he was completely blind, bless him. But he loved music and he was just such a lovely young man. He came in with his help and he was extremely courageous. He works as a volunteer in charity stores, so he’s already out there doing his bit in the world, and he loved my music so much he actually sang for me. He was fabulous; he really had a lovely voice. He sang ‘Time to Say Goodbye’, so we ended up doing a small duet to that together and it was brilliant. He’d even learned the Italian as well.

Wow, that sounds incredible, but can you tell us a bit more about the album you released this year, Singing My Dreams? Are you pleased with it?

I’m out performing my debut album, which means everything to me. I’ve had amazing reviews from David Mellor, which was everything I could have wanted, published in the Mail on Sunday. That really made people take note. This is the music I’m performing and promoting at the moment, and there’s new music on there, which is exciting. It’s really different and there are actually songs that I’ve written myself. I’ve written the lyrics to two of the songs. One is ‘Why’ and the other is the last song on the album, ‘Memory of You’, which I’m actually performing last in this show as well. It’s set to James Horner’s music from Legends of the Fall, which I’m love with, and I actually wrote the lyrics after I lost my grandmother. The music’s epic and I’m really proud of those lyrics, so it’s something really special for me.

So how would you suggest more people, especially younger generations, get interested in your genre, because obviously we don’t get very much exposure to it?

I think the nicest way to experience this music is live because, even when taking the singers out of it, there’s nothing quite like a live orchestra. It’s the most powerful sound and so it’s wonderful to hear acoustic instruments coming together and blending like that; it really is amazing and quite different to when you hear it on any recording. So I think that’s a great way to be introduced to it. If you ever have an opportunity to hear an orchestra somewhere, it’s the perfect way to first experience this kind of music.

Finally, do you hope to keep doing this in the distant future?

I can’t imagine doing anything else. For me I’ve got the best job in the world and I thank God every night, I really do. I love every minute of what I do. It’s a wonderful world to be a part of.

A FACE TO FACE INTERVIEW IN THE VOXX OFFICE WITH A LOCAL AUTHOR

Following from our interview for VOXX Issue [#], I had the pleasure of sitting down with local author Michael Nilsen to chat about his new book, Beyond the Cave, a compilation of poems and short stories. Michael once worked on the docks, and then went on to be involved in the world of boxing, but now his focus has shifted to a less physically demanding pursuit, but passion all the same.

So Michael, what’s been happening since we last spoke?

The last 18 years I’ve been studying on and off with a view to teach as a college lecturer, with mature students post 16. It’s been a dream job that I’ve aspired to, but it’s quite competitive to get in, because I’m not as experienced as other teachers; I only got my PGCE in 2014 and I’ve been concentrating mostly on my writing since then. But I contacted Franklin College because I wanted to see if they were interested in me doing a poetry performance, and they suggested because I was a published author that I could come in to talk about writing my new books to try and inspire the students. So I went in to do my kind of motivational speech for a day and I saw about four or five different classes, and the lady who invited me recently emailed me, maybe two or three months ago, that there was a job going at Franklin College in the evenings. It was lecturing for English Language GCSE for mature students. I thought, I won’t get this, but I’ll apply. Anyway, I got an interview. I researched and prepared for this interview like I’d never done before, because I knew it was a golden opportunity, but I wasn’t getting my hopes up. So I went into the interview and it went really well and they phoned me up that evening and they said they were aware I was inexperienced, but they thought with the right support I could make a real go of it. I just couldn’t believe it; I’ve been waiting for this for years. So I start in September as a college lecturer at Franklin College.

So you’re really looking forward to it?

Absolutely, I’ve been preparing on and off through the summer; it’s just exactly what I want to do, and it’s the subject that I’m most interested in.

So you’re actually glad you’re doing this now, rather than the kinds of manual jobs and docks and things that you did in the past?

I couldn’t go back to them because they were quite physical, and the nice thing about this is that I can enjoy the summer; there’s something to look forward to.

And what made you want to write this book specifically?

Well, I’ve been going into schools doing poetry performances and workshops, and it’s quite unnerving actually. You walk into a school assembly and there’s 100-200 kids there, and you’ve got to engage them. And I remember once when I was at Welholme, afterwards the teacher said, “You know what, you might not have seen it but all the kids were totally concentrating on you. They were so attentive, hanging on your every word.” And I’ve been in quite a lot of schools and had great responses from the kids, because for me they’re honest critics; they wear their hearts on their sleeves and I’ve been getting really positive feedback from them. I’ve also been integrated into the local poetry scene and I’ve performed my poetry at Moon on the Water twice now, and also at the No.1 Pub. A couple of weeks ago I was even at Keelby Women’s Institute, and they were wonderful. I was performing in front of about 35-40 women and I even wrote a poem specially for it about Jam, because they’re known for making jam, and they thought that was funny. Because I’ve been getting this immediate feedback from it you can gauge what they like and don’t like in your writing, and it was encouraging; it just gave me further incentive to continue writing, so these last two years have been inspired by the reactions I’ve got when I read in public.

What is it about poetry in particular as opposed to prose that interests you so much? Because you’ve done a lot of poetry.

Yeah, I have. Actually, William Wordsworth said, “There’s no difference between good prose and poetry.” If you write good prose well, you’re using poetical devices, but the reason I stick more to poetry is because maybe I have an element of impatience in me. I want to write it and see it finished. Sometimes I rigorously redraft it, but I like the immediacy of the expression; it’s condensed and you can complete a poem in a single sitting.

And why did you choose Beyond the Cave as the title for this book?

Beyond the Cave, it’s a reference to Plato. When I first started getting really into reading I was recommended to read The Last Days of Socrates, but also Plato’s Republic, and Plato uses the cave as a symbol of the idea he’s trying to convey. He says to picture a man chained to a rock in a cave, looking at shadows on the walls. He’s lived there all his life, and he thinks these shadows are real and the absolute representation of life. But because he’s never been allowed outside, he doesn’t realise these shadows are being made by the objects outside the cave, and if he went outside his whole perception would widen and he would marvel. So I used Beyond the Cave because it’s a poet’s duty to try and pierce below the surface of things to realise their essence. Poets try and hone their observational skills to see deeper into life, into the environment.

So, is there a recurring theme through this book or is it just bits and pieces from all different genres and events?

Well I see the painting on your wall is signed by The Motley Crew, and you could say that’s similar to my poetry. It’s a right mishmash. There are many different styles and themes and I’m looking through it and each poem is like a different person wrote it, and that’s what I was trying to go for. There’s no consistent theme or style; I was trying to be as varied as I could be.

And is there any element of this book you’re particularly proud of? Anything that really stands out?

I remember when I started writing in 1993 I was very enthusiastic, and I thought I was going to be the Jim Morrison of poets. I sent my poetry off to a lot of magazines, probably about 20 or 30, and they all rejected me, but I carried on writing for a bit. Then I thought, I’ve lost my momentum, I’ve written about everything that I needed to say. I was passionate about environmental issues particularly and I thought, I’ve said that now, anything else I’ll just be repeating. So I thought I’d genuinely stopped writing poetry and it was for good. So one of the things I’m proud of is that I keep coming up with new ideas for writing.

So are you planning on doing another one then?

Well I’m already writing, but I’m not going to publish it for another couple of years. I’m going to take my time and compile, because what I’ve been doing with this one, I don’t think I’m strict enough with the quality. I’ve just put every thought and idea in it, and I’ve been really a bit lenient with the quality. There is some great work in there, but when I read it I think that maybe I could have left some out. I’m writing consistently and I think I’m gradually still improving as a writer, and I’m writing in a different way now; I’m maturing. Because it’s been so consistent these last two to three years, I’ve been reading rigorously into different books, because that can obviously inform your writing. So I’ve still got things to say and I’m still improving.

So you’re just going to keep writing as long as you can?

Yeah, until I dry up I think, or I lose the motivation, and I’m hoping that I never will. I’m a fairly private guy and I spend a lot of time on my own, which is ideal for writing, so I think I’ll always have something to say. Hopefully.

Other than just continuing to write, do you have anything big planned for the future, or are you just seeing how things go for now?

Well, I’ve had this idea in my head for a while about a journeyman boxer who’s connected to the underground; he’s like, I don’t know, a money collector? There’s parallels to the Rocky franchise, but it’s going to be completely different. He’s a drug addict, and he boxes at the same time, but he’s not reaching his full potential because of his lifestyle and environment. So I’ve got this idea that I want to write maybe a novella or a novel about that, because I can utilise my own boxing experiences from when I spent over four years in boxing gyms and  competitive boxing. So I can draw on those experiences. And in this book I’ve written some boxing recollections. When I was on my degree I did a biographical and autobiographical module, and one of the assignments was to write an episode in our own lives. And I focussed on my boxing. I used a typewriter when I was doing my degree, and I wrote it in maybe about 1997. It was left in a box until last year and I pulled it out and I thought, this is a good story, but I could see how I’d improved since then, and I thought I could redraft it. So I typed it out on the computer and added extra memories that I had and embellished on it, and it’s the centrepiece of that book actually, so I’m quite pleased with it.

So on the publishing side, is it the same publishers that published your other books?

Yeah, we’re used to how each other works now, they’re very efficient, they’re very responsive. I email them and you can guarantee they’ll get back to me the same day or the next day. They’re very understanding, and there were one or two stories in there that I was unsure whether or not to include. One’s called Kakos, and I thought it was a bit near the knuckle, a bit explicit, and he’s a very unsavoury character. What I was doing is I was exploring what Carl Jung calls “The Shadow”. Everybody’s got it, this dark side, and we’re supposed to try and integrate it to become more whole, but some people reject it and they become unbalanced. So I was exploring the dark side of my character through this writing, and I thought, I don’t know if I want to include it. I kept thinking about my mother reading it and things like that, and I said, “Will you read it carefully, that particular story, and tell me if you think I should include it.” And they read it, and they couldn’t see any problems with it. My mother did read it and she thought it was a bit explicit, but I thought, I’m not just writing for you. I’m trying to appeal to as wide an audience as I can, and I’ve got to say that some short stories and poems in there won’t appeal to everybody, but I like to think there’s something for everybody.

A SHORT PHONE INTERVIEW WITH SINGER GABRIELLE APLIN, FOR VOXX MAGAZINE

She became a famous figure almost overnight with her cover of ‘The Power Of Love’ for John Lewis and has only gone from strength to strength since then. We had the pleasure of sitting down for a chat with the truly lovely Gabrielle Aplin in leading up to the release of her second album, Light Up The Dark.

Hey, how you doing?

A: I’m great thank you, how are you?

Not too bad thank you. So, we’ll get right into it. Would you like to introduce yourself to our readers?

A: Well, my name is Gabrielle Aplin and I am a singer-songwriter that likes to make music.

Cool, so we saw you playing Birmingham back in 2009, before you got signed. How have things changed since then and what have you learned?

A: Well for me when I got signed it was more kind of, well it was just a good thing for me to do. It wasn’t like I drastically changed the way I do things. I just have a few extra people working with me and I have those extra resources to use, you know? It’s just about having that at my disposal really, but nothing’s really changed. I’ve certainly developed and I’ve just made my second album, but up until making that album it was first time I’d done all of those things. Now I can say ‘I love this part, I’ll do it again’ or ‘I don’t like this part’ and I’ve just kind of started to work out my way of doing things really.

You’ve toured the world, visiting various countries. How was that experience?

A: That was amazing, especially the culture shock countries, you know? I’ve been to Japan a lot and that was just incredible. I never thought I’d get to go there. Even just kind of touring and playing to different crowds makes me more confident in front of a crowd and makes me a better musician, and that all kind of went into the second album. It was just a great experience all round.

So what was the first kind of music you were aware of?

A: Mostly the stuff that my parents were playing. My dad is a big Bruce Springsteen fan so I listened to a lot of him, and my mum is a big fan of The Carpenters, Joan Myers and Joni Mitchell, so yeah, I listen to a lot of that. It was mostly bands and singer-songwriters from the 60’s and 70’s really.

So is this the kind of music that influences your work, or has that come from elsewhere?

A: Absolutely, they’re kind of like my sole influencers. I love Joni and Nick Drake. When I’m making a project of work, like an album, there’s always my references and inspirations in there. This current album I was really inspired by The Rolling Stones and just big live bands, Edward Sharpe, just live storytelling I guess. I’m mostly inspired by experimenting though and I’ve felt really free, like I don’t have any agendas and I didn’t have a label chasing me going ‘We need this song for this and that’. They just left me to it for a year so everything was very free and I was just doing what I wanted to do.

Is there any kind of particular message you hope to portray through your music?

A: Well, it’s different with every song. I’m kind of just writing about different things. Some of the songs are about me, some of the songs are about things that have happened to my friends, some things I don’t even know that well. It could be about a place I’ve been to, or a moment that I want to put into a song to create an atmosphere. The whole album doesn’t have any one particular message. Each song is different.

Ok, so slightly off topic now, we’ve heard you’re into animals. Do you have any interesting pets of your own?

A: Well, we have lots of cats, a ferret and a Boston Terrier. I just like rescuing animals.

A ferret?

A: I didn’t really plan to have one, but when I was younger I just knew. My friend had one and she was basically going to take it to a rescue centre because she couldn’t have him anymore and I just felt sorry for him so I ended up rescuing him myself. I just decided on the day that I was going to have this ferret and that was it.

That’s nice. And if you weren’t doing music right now, what do you think you’d be doing as a career instead?

A: I think something creative. I really love all aspects of art. I love paint and I love to draw and design, and it’s the kind of thing I just do for fun anyway. So something in that kind of area.

Ok, so finally, do you have any advice for aspiring singers out there wanting to be where you are?

A: I think for me I guess I… I think the industry has definitely changed from how it was maybe 10/20 years ago where the first thing you needed to do was get signed. The internet has massively changed that and it’s amazing and you should really embrace that. We should just embrace all the resources we have at our disposal for free, you know? I was able to put my music on YouTube and iTunes all by myself. I didn’t even need a label to do that. I was able to record in my bedroom with just one microphone. You can’t expect to go viral with one YouTube video but you should just make the most of every resource and work all these elements together, and of course also just playing all the local gigs you can get, hanging out with other musicians and sharing ideas with them. Just get yourself inspired.

Well thank you very much and it was lovely meeting you… over the phone.