Paloma Faith

A captivating chanteuse, a rabble-rousing entertainer and theatrical fashion chameleon, Faith’s debut album, ‘Do You Want the Truth, or Something Beautiful?’ remains a glossy collection of retro-referencing soul and sassy pop. From the brass-blasted stomp of ‘Stone Cold Sober’, to the epic sweep of her biggest chart hit ‘New York’, the record went on to sell over half a million copies, earning Faith a nomination for Best British Female at the Brit Awards and the honour of closing the 2011 ceremony singing with Cee-Lo Green. At the behest of Chaka Khan, Faith performed ‘I’m Every Woman’ in front of 50,000 people and earned plaudits from Annie Lennox, who selected Faith join her onstage in support of International Women’s Day. So much more than just a standard pop artist, one of this 26-year-old’s greatest assets is her wicked and wry sense of humour, she’s outspoken and unafraid: she has an opinion. As an artist she pulls from a wide range of sources, her experiences diverse. With a degree in contemporary dance and a Masters in Time Based Arts from Central St Martin’s, Faith is tri-lingual (English, Italian, and conversational Spanish), and a talented actress to boot (she played the romantic foil to Tom Waits’ Devil in the Terry Gilliam’s ‘The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus’). You’re as likely to find Faith on the red carpet or on the fashion front row as judging London’s Next Top Tranny at the local working men’s club. “A lot of people write songs because they want to record them in a studio, they want put their feelings out there,” she says. “I don’t write songs for that reason: I write songs so I can perform them.”