Lisa was due to be appear on a couple of radio shows in Ireland this week (20th & 21s Feb) but unfortunately she was unwell to appear on either Dublins LMFM radio (The Daire Nelson show) or Dublin's Q102 according to Liam Coburn from the station. Hopefully she will be over to cheer up the radio airwaves very soon!

The 6 Music Festival Fringe Presents an Exclusive Preview Screening of 'Northern Soul'

As part of the 6 Music Festival Fringe, are proud to partner with Cornerhouse to show a preview screening of 'Northern Soul', the story of a 1970's club scene with its roots in Northern England that changed a generation.

The screening takes place on: 

• Wednesday 26 February - Doors open at 18.00. Event starts at 18.20 and ends at 20.40
• The screening will be at Cinema 1, Cornerhouse, 70 Oxford Street, Manchester, M1 5NH 

Starring Elliot James Langridge, Joshua Whitehouse, Antonia Thomas, Jack Gordonand featuring Steve Coogan and Lisa Stansfield, the film is an authentic and uplifting tale of two young boys whose horizons are opened up by the discovery of black American soul music. No longer satisfied with the prospect of a small town life and a factory production line, they dream of going to America to discover super-rare records which will help them to become the No.1 DJs on the Northern Soul scene. Their journey forces the two best friends to confront rivalry, violence and drug abuse as their friendship and loyalties are tested to the limit.

After the screening, Stuart Maconie will host a short Q&A with the director Elaine Constantine and producer Debbie Gray.


Is it too late to get a ticket? Registration for the ticket ballot closed on Saturday 15 February at 2100.

We're sorry if you missed out on screening tickets, but you will be able to watch the 6 Music Festival as it happens here on the BBC Radio 6 Music website – including every set on both artist stages - so you won’t miss a note. 

Screening Tickets will be issued from Wednesday 19th February.

The allocation of tickets were distributed by random draw and weighted as follows: 50% to Greater Manchester, 35% to Cheshire, Cumbria, Durham, East Riding of Yorkshire, Lancashire, Lincolnshire, Merseyside, North Yorkshire, Northumberland, South Yorkshire, Tyne & Wear and West Yorkshire and 15% to the rest of the UK.

Hello!

So, we did it!!! I’m over the moon that 'Seven' charted in the Official Album Charts at No.13 at the weekend.I am so overwhelmed by your support and would like to say a massive thank you to everyone who bought a copy! Thank you x

Secondly, I have another piece of exciting news to share with you! I am absolutely delighted to announce I'll be going back on tour in September!

Here are the full set of the UK dates for Autumn 2014. Tickets go on sale on Friday 21st February, but you can access the exclusive pre-sale tomorrow (Thursday 20th Feb) at 10am here.

Can't wait to go back on tour... And I hope to see many of you on the road!

Lisa X

For all those based in Germany or with access to German TV, Lisa will be appearing as a special guest on "Back To School" with Germanys number one TV host Thomas Gottschalk's and his big class reunion.  (recorded back in January) This show will be on at 20:15 (CET)  other guests appearing on the show with Lisa are Barbara Schöneberg and Christine Neubauer

(Check out more photos here)

Press release
Monday 17th February 2014 09:00
LISA STANSFIELD ANNOUNCES SEPTEMBER 2014 UK TOUR

British Songstress in Seventh Heaven

Following her sell out European tour earlier this year Lisa Stansfield is releasing her long awaited new album ‘Seven’ on the 7th of October 2013.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW TOUR DATES AND BUY TICKETS FROM 10.00AM 
ON FRIDAY 21st February

Lisa’s career has spanned over 3 decades, boasting sales of nearly 20 million records and a string of international top 10 hits including: Around The World, Change, All Woman and Someday. 

The aptly named album ‘Seven’ is Lisa’s 7th studio release and promises to galvanise her fan base old and new. The Grammy nominated, multi BRIT, Ivor Novello and Silver Clef Award winner has returned to the studio to record along with long-time songwriting partner Ian Devaney, whose credits include The Bodyguard and Indecent Proposal soundtracks. 

Seven which has been produced and written in the UK by Lisa Stansfield and husband Ian Devaney features tracks such as: Can’t Dance, The Rain, Stupid Heart, Conversation, The Crown, Strong, So Be It and Picket Fence 

Recorded in both Los Angeles and Manchester, Stansfield has collaborated with John "JR" Robinson, known as the most recorded drummer in history and Grammy award winning orchestrator Jerry Hey, both integral to the creation of Michael Jackson’s “Off The Wall, Thriller and Bad” and have worked with Lisa for over two decades.

Following her critically acclaimed return to live performance in 2013– The Times said “Lisa still has the most distinctive and sensuous voice in soul pop” 

"Seven" marks Lisa’s return to the international stage and confirms her status as one of the UK’s premier recording artists.

Due to phenomenal demand and such a fantastic reception at her recent European tour, Lisa is also delighted to announce five further UK Autumn tour dates. These upcoming shows in: Bexhill, Bournemouth, Manchester, Bristol and London feature both classic hits and new material taken from the upcoming album ‘Seven’

Adding a further string to her bow, and with Lisa’s ongoing contribution to British Soul being undeniable, Stansfield will be starring in an independent film about the genre due out later this year. Charting the soul phenomenon that rose out of Northern England,  ‘Northern Soul’ will see Lisa team up with a renowned cast of UK actors including Steve Coogan and Ricky Tomlinson paying homage to the musical genre that has influenced her own style.

5-Sep-2014 - Symphony Hall, Birmingham 
6-Sep-2014 - The Sage, Gateshead 06 Sep 
7-Sep-2014 - The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester
9-Sep-2014 - Derngate Theatre, Northampton 
10-Sep-2014 - Royal Festival Hall, London
12-Sep-2014 - York Barbican Centre, York                                                                                                      
13-Sep 2014 O2 Academy, Glasgow                                                                                                                     
15-Sep-2014 - Reading Hexagon, Reading
16-Sep-2014 - Cliffs Pavilion, Southend                                                                                                               
17-Sep-2014 - G-Live, Guildford

All tickets on sale from Friday, 21 Feb 2014 at 10:00AM available from gigsandtours.com // 0844 811 0051, priced from £27.50 (except London from £25).

Reviews:
“Lisa still has the most distinctive and sensuous voice in soul pop” - The Times
“…she never fails to fill the room with glitz, drama and bursting emotion.” Q Magazine
“A lovely 10 song duvet of an album, warm and indulgent” - Classic Pop
“Languid and wonderful, this a quality return from a singer with nothing to prove but plenty still to give.”  
- The Sun
“Her finest album in 10 years finds the Rochdale singer in fine voice, as expressive as ever.” - Financial Times
“It’s beautifully arranged, beautifully recorded and very well sung” - Sunday Express
“Lisa Stansfield is back with a bang.” Mirror Online

photo: eva Oertwig/schroewig - Berlin January 2014

«J'ai eu des envies suicidaires»par Gabriel Lecomte - Lisa Stansfield a eu un mal fou à se défaire de la cigarette. Le moral à zéro durant son sevrage, l’artiste a même eu envie de mettre fin à ses jours.

Star de la fin des eighties et des années 1990 avec des tubes comme «All Around The World», Lisa Stansfield s’était éclipsée des bacs depuis dix ans. La chanteuse pop anglaise vient de sortir un nouveau CD, «Seven», et repartira bientôt en tournée.

Vous n’avez pas changé. Comment gardez-vous la ligne ? 
Quand j’étais plus jeune, j’étais obsédée par mon poids. J’avais toujours peur de prendre ou de perdre des kilos. Et puis un jour, je me suis dit que j’allais arrêter de me faire du souci parce que cela ne sert à rien. Depuis, je mange ce qu’il y a dans mon assiette et quand je n’ai plus faim, je m’arrête. Je ne suis pas compulsive avec la nourriture donc je mange ce que je veux, dans les limites du raisonnable !

Fumez-vous toujours autant ? 
J’ai arrêté il y a trois ans. Lorsqu’on bossait en studio, mon mari et moi fumions jusqu’à six paquets par jour à deux. Pour venir nous voir, il fallait traverser un grand nuage de fumée dégueulasse ! J’ai encore des vêtements qui puent la clope même après les avoir donnés à nettoyer quatre fois.

Comment avez-vous arrêté ? 
Grâce à un hypnothérapeute. Avant lui, j’avais essayé d’arrêter et c’était horrible. J’étais tellement déprimée que j’avais des envies suicidaires. Je me souviens avoir traversé la rue à New-York sans regarder le trafic parce que je me disais que ça m’était égal de me faire écraser. Cet homme m’a guérie de mon addiction et je lui dois beaucoup.

Pourquoi cette longue absence des bacs ? 
J’avais l’impression de ne plus trouver ma place dans la musique. J’attendais que le vent tourne parce que je suis convaincue que tout est question de cycles, dans la musique comme dans la vie d’ailleurs. Je crois que c’est le bon moment de revenir. J’espère ne pas me tromper et être la seule à écouter mon nouveau disque !

Vendre des disques est plus dur aujourd’hui. Vous aimez les défis ? 
Pas vraiment, mais j’ai bien été obligée dans ma vie à relever ces foutus défis, alors autant les accepter! C’est vrai que les gens achètent moins de disques mais les concerts marchent très bien. Et puis je pense qu’on vit dans une époque formidable. Internet est un outil génial pour le public et les jeunes talents.

http://www.20min.ch/ro/entertainment/people/story/-J-ai-eu-des-envies-suicidaires--22423587

Lisa Stansfield: 'I just sing. I just feel it'
The vocal powerhouse is back with her first album for a decade, Seven, which she thinks is perfect for the age of Adele

• • By Laura Barton - The Guardian, Monday 17 February 2014

Lisa Stansfield groans as she recounts the advice of countless record company executives in recent years. "Why don't you do an album of covers?" they ask her. A nice collection of inoffensive classics is, however, unlikely to happen. "They can piss off," she says.

It's 10 years since Stansfield, now 47, released an album – a stretch of time in which she has not so much stood idle as lain fallow, biding her time until she felt relevant again. "Well, what's the point of putting anything out if it's going to be ill-received?"

Having experienced success in the 1990s – with platinum-selling albums, the hit singles All Around the World and All Woman, and Grammy, Brit and Ivor Novello nods – Stansfield was understandably nervous about the idea of a lukewarm reception. Her last album, 2004's Trevor Horn-produced The Moment, peaked in the UK at a disappointing No 57. "There's always a stagnant time," she says. "And it's almost always before it explodes again and something new comes out."

That new thing is Seven, an opulent-sounding collection of songs written by Stansfield and her long-time writing and romantic partner, Ian Devaney, which showcases that famous voice against plush, cinematic arrangements. "We sat there, me and Ian, and said, 'If we do that, will it be really showy-offy?' And then we went, 'Fuck it. Why not?' You've got to give people something worth waiting for. If they want to call us a couple of bastards, they can."

The idea that it might be time to make a comeback occurred a few years ago, with the rise of a new clutch of soul stars such as Adele, Amy Winehouse and Duffy. Thirty years ago, Stansfield ploughed a similar furrow: after winning a singing contest in her hometown of Rochdale, she signed a record contract with Polydor before starting a band with Devaney and Andy Morris.

Following her powerful guest vocal on Coldcut's People Hold On, the young woman who spoke with the broadest of northern accents – but somehow sang like Barry White – captured the public imagination. She had mettle and humour and she swore like a trooper, but her songs were seductive things, worldly wise and potently feminine. Her new material is in the same vein, recorded in New York, London and at Stansfield's own studio in Rochdale, called Gracieland (a nod to the town's other famous daughter, Gracie Fields). She speaks gleefully of inviting the band up north: "And they all stayed in this guesthouse, and they really looked after them and made them all a fry-up every morning and a roast dinner on a Sunday." She looks proud. "I don't know how to word it without sounding like a twat, but it's been lovely being back in the north."

She met Devaney at school in Rochdale. "I always remember walking into the theatre …" She pauses. "It sounds posh that our school had its own theatre, but it was a community school. It was the first time I'd ever seen him and he was very brooding, gangly and tall, sitting on a plastic school chair strumming his guitar. He looked up and I thought, 'Oh. My. God.'" She was 14 then, and the pair were nothing more than friends until she was 22, by which time they were in a band and enjoying their first taste of success. They feared initially that a romantic involvement could ruin their professional songwriting relationship. "We were really scared," she recalls. "Because we realised that we were in love with each other. And we thought, 'Do we forgo the love and just get on with the music?' And it was very naughty because we did get on with all of it, and it all worked out fine in the end. But we could've completely screwed it up."

There has always been something astonishing about Stansfield's voice. The last time I saw her, at a small show in London, it seemed to turn the whole crowd to putty. "I just sing it, I just feel it," she says. "Because it's very raw and very real." She particularly relishes performing live since she quit cigarettes three years ago. "I used to smoke three packs a day," she says shaking her head. It took a bout of hypnotherapy in New York to give up. "I did it once in London and the guy had one of those toffee-nosed authoritative voices. And I just couldn't take him seriously. As a smoker you're a rebel, and it was like sitting down with a teacher."

She was a rebel early on: "The first time I tried a cigarette, I was about 10. And it wasn't even a cigarette. Oh my God, this is disgusting – it was one of my Mum's dog-ends. She smoked St Moritz and her coral lipstick would be on the filter. I used to keep all of the dog-ends in a matchbox and blow them out of the window."

Stansfield's mother died in 2006, but she still feels close to her. It was, after all, her mother who introduced her to the music of Patsy Cline, Brenda Lee, and Diana Ross. "And I sang those songs all day long," she remembers. "Over and over again. I suppose it was parrot-fashion at first, trying to emulate something. And that's how your voice becomes how it does, because those have been your teachers."

Like those singers, Stansfield mingles strength and vulnerability in her voice and her songwriting. The new album takes a look at the role of women, particularly those in unhappy or unhealthy relationships. "People get trapped sometimes and they don't feel they have a voice. And if you can in some way help someone by writing a song, it's really lovely."

She describes her songs as "a cast of women and I'm the narrator". She can visualise each as she sings them, and feels a tenderness towards them. "You have to." Her most famous creation is surely the character in All Woman, stuck at home feeling dowdy while her husband goes out to work. What does she think this woman would be doing now? She laughs. "She probably wouldn't take as much shit as she did then," she says. "But I think she'd probably be all right."

Stansfield recalls the time she told her school careers officer she wanted to be a famous singer. "She just laughed at me." But it is singing that excites her rather than fame – she has refused several invitations to be a judge on TV talent shows. And while she seems proud of her new songs, there's a touch of nerves. "I've always said that when people start saying, 'Oh my God, why doesn't this woman put down her bagpipes?' then I will. I just don't ever want to become like Cliff Richard."