PRESS RELEASE - 
LISA STANSFIELD 
‘Carry On’
New single – out on February 24th 2014
From the album ‘Seven’ released February 10th 2014
www.lisa-stansfield.com

“Lisa still has the most distinctive and sensuous voice in soul pop” - The Times

Performed live on Jools Holland’s Hootenanny 2013 on BBC Two, ‘Carry On’ is the new single from Lisa Stansfield’s imminent album ‘Seven’. Written by Lisa and Ian Devaney the song is an homage to classic Northern Soul and a story of the end of a relationship and emotional survival – a common theme on Lisa’s new album. “She is really saying to him ‘I will carry on and you’re not going to affect my life. I’m not going to fall to pieces because you’re not there’”.

Twenty five years after topping the charts, globally, with the single ‘All Around The World’, and ten years after the release of her last album, Britain’s iconic soul singer Lisa Stansfield releases her seventh studio album ‘Seven’.

The Grammy nominated, multi BRIT, Ivor Novello and Silver Clef Award winner, who can boast sales of nearly 20 million records and a string of international top 10 hits, returned to the studio to record with long-time songwriting partner Ian Devaney, whose credits include The Bodyguard and Indecent Proposal soundtracks. 

Produced and written by Lisa and Ian, ‘Seven’ is a return to the soul and R&B that she is known for. “It is a soul record and while it is eclectic there is a thread running through it. It was basically me and Ian doing everything…but we also had a team of amazing musicians in the studio with us.” That team included John "JR" Robinson, known as the most recorded drummer, and Grammy award winning orchestrator Jerry Hey who have both worked with Lisa for over two decades.

‘Seven’ marks Lisa’s return to the international stage and confirms her status as one of the UK’s premier recording artists. ‘Can’t Dance’, the first track on the album, was playlisted on Radio 2 this autumn and sets the tone for the record and its theme of love and relationships. “A lot of the album is about the trap that a woman has got herself into - an unrequited, doomed or mismatched love - and how to get herself out of it…if she can.” The songs are strong reminders of Lisa’s ability to tell stories and create identifiable characters within her lyrics - “I think we all suffer the same pain, all feel the same happiness, and we all have the same emotions within us. My life isn’t very racy or exciting so I make things up, tell stories. I like telling stories.”

Why has it been so long since her last album? “I felt I didn’t fit in anywhere. I didn’t want to alter what I do to fit in to a current trend but things run in cycles and now it feels as though the time is right to get my foot in the door again.”  Having sold out a European tour earlier this year, this autumn Lisa embarked on her second UK tour of the year and has announced a European tour for May 2014.

Adding a further string to her bow, and with Lisa’s ongoing contribution to British Soul being undeniable, she will be starring in an independent film about the genre due out in 2014. 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.
 
Seven is released on Monkeynatra. Catalogue number MONKYNTCD1 

The Craig Charles Funk & Soul Show will be channel hopping from BBC Radio 6 Music to BBC Radio 2 at 9pm for 1 hour. Craig will be opening up his trunk of funk to give you classic Motown, Northern Soul, R&B, gospel and contemporary remixes that will form an hour of party tunes.

This show will be broadcast on 8th February 2014

Courtesy of http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk - interview by Gordon Barr
Lisa Stansfield is back! The singer plays the Tyne Theatre in Newcastle next week and our Entertainment Editor GORDON BARR caught up with her to find out all about it



It's been two decades since I last saw Lisa Stansfield in concert.That show still rates as one of my most enjoyable of any female singer, so when I heard she was hitting the road again, I was a tad excited to say the least.It had also been two decades since I last interviewed her, but remember her being lovely, down-to-earth and like a long-lost friend back then.

The years haven’t changed her, and Lisa is full of life and cracking jokes throughout our chat, in that instantly recognisable Rochdale accent of hers, which hasn’t mellowed, despite years of living in Ireland and more recently London.

“I’ve just been biding my time really,” she tells me, when I ask where has she been all those years. “I’ve been getting a lot of work done that hasn’t been seen. “This tour is just testing the water really and seeing what’s out there. We did three gigs before Christmas and got a completely tremendous response, so it was wonderful, so why not just keep doing more and see how many we can do.”

A new album is in the offing too. “We are going to do a few of the new songs.“But we’re not going to do all new stuff as it’s not fair.“I’ve not done things for quite a while and I think people are going to come and see me primarily for what they know.“But it’s really nice to put some new stuff in there and see how people respond to it.

“It’s great to do the old songs when you’ve not done them for a while. You look at songs in a different way. You sing them a little bit different as well.“I don’t want to sing things too different because I think some people really don’t like that.
“But I love it when you think of ad libs you’ve never thought of before and different ways of singing things, it’s lovely, and with different arrangements.”

With an extraordinarily successful career, Brit-Award winning Lisa, who not only boasts nearly 20 million album sales but also a string of Top 10 UK and European hits, has been hard at work on a seventh studio album which is now nearing completion, details of which will be released shortly.

Forever pushing the creative boundary, she has also completed the filming of a major motion picture based around the Northern Soul phenomenon, due for release this year.“Everyone keeps saying the album is going to be called Seven,” she laughs.“We’ve never even suggested it. The more we hear it the more we think ‘maybe we should’.

“We’re still finishing it and polishing it up and putting overdubs on it and I’ve still to do vocals – I want to do something with the vocals after touring as my voice will be a lot stronger and I will be into the swing of it all.“It’s definitely soul. I don’t think I am going to go back to the old pop thing. I don’t think it suits me.“It is primarily soul that I do. If pop is not the ‘thing’ that you do, it is very difficult to do. It looks really easy but it is quite difficult.”

Northern Soul, which also stars Steve Coogan, Christian McKay, Ricky Tomlinson and Roisin Murphy, is due for release at the end of the summer.It is the story of a youth culture which changed a generation and influenced songwriters, producers, DJs and designers for decades to come.

Northern Soul tells the tale of a nightclub-based movement which developed in bleak industrial North West England, as the tail end of Mod Culture delved ever deeper into black American soul music.

It’s a story of insistent rhythm and raw emotion, a film about ambition, fuelled by a desire to break out and succeed. The tale of two young men whose lives were changed forever. It was a time when clubs were to earn a place in music history, by embracing an embryonic sound that would soon be known as Northern Soul.

“I’ve known Elaine Constantine the director for a long, long time,” explains Lisa.“I’m from Rochdale and she’s from the next town, Bury, and we made friends and would go out to lunch together. There are a few of us girls who go out for lunch.

“We got talking and she’s always wanted to make this film anyway and she said do you want a part in it. I said, ‘yes, YES’.“She asked me if I didn’t mind playing a mum and I told her I was the age of a mum, so it wasn’t a problem and so I ended up playing a mum.

“It’s a very gritty film. It was lovely being in front of the cameras. I enjoy acting.“It’s a long day and you are waiting around for most of it but when you are actually doing your scenes, it’s really good.“We just had a really good laugh as well. Everybody on the crew was lovely and all the actors were really gorgeous. We just ended up crying with laughter all the time.“We’d be doing a really sombre scene and we’d all be crying, and then we’d cut and we’d just start laughing again. It was mad. Then you had to go back crying again. So lots of tears and laughter.

“The first disco I went to always played Northern Soul and I had my first kiss to a Northern Soul song.”

THE cameras have been rolling in Bury’s streets this week to make a film starring 1980s pop star Lisa Stansfield.

Called Northern Soul, it is being shot at six locations in Bury and Bolton over the next four weeks. The film includes stars such as Ricky Tomlinson, Steve Coogan and John Thompson.

Bury-born photographer Elaine Constantine is behind the project, which tells the story of two young northern men whose lives are dramatically changed by the 1970s Northern Soul scene.

Filming began this week in Merton Street and Fairy Street. Details of other sites and schedules are being kept secret and the film company hopes the weather will improve after heavy showers on Monday.

Ms Constantine, aged 46, is the director and wrote the screenplay. She grew up on the soul scene and has been developing the idea for 15 years.

She said: “When Northern Soul exploded out of the North it was spellbinding to witness. Young lads, who never expressed themselves were suddenly dancing with passion to this new sound.“As a teenager, dancing to this music gave me an overwhelming feeling of belonging and euphoria. It’s this same feeling of excitement and belonging to something special that I want to give to the film.”

She formed a production company three years ago, raised funds from investors and is working with producer Debbie Gray.

The film tells the story of a youth culture which emerged in the North when mods delved deeper into obscure black American soul music. Ms Constantine spent five years working with a script expert to ensure the film appeals internationally, whilst trying to make it as authentic as possible.

She first achieved fame working for style magazine The Face, but later filmed short documentaries and pop videos. The movie is due for release in 2013 depending on investments.

Manchester Evening News announce 

Singer Lisa Stansfield is to make a return to the limelight on home turf – starring in a new movie about the Northern Soul scene. Lisa, from Rochdale, shot to fame in the 80s with her worldwide hit All Around The World and she continued to dominate the charts in the 90s.

Lisa, from Rochdale, shot to fame in the 80s with her worldwide hit All Around The World and she continued to dominate the charts in the 90s. But in recent years she’s moved away from the music world and concentrated on acting roles.
Now, the 45-year-old is set to star in the new movie about two northern lads whose lives are changed forever by the Northern Soul music scene in the 70s.

She will play the mum of one of the lads, while actor Christian McKay will play her husband. The film is due to be shot in and around Manchester in June. It is being produced in association with comedian Steve Coogan’s Baby Cow Films by Bury-born director Elaine Constantine and her film company, Stubborn Heart Productions.

Elaine came up with the idea as she is such a huge fan of the music scene that revolved around venues like Wigan Casino, Manchester’s Twisted Wheel and Stoke’s Torch club which became legendary for their Northern Soul all-nighters in the 70s. She tells me that Lisa came on board early on. Elaine says: “We first spoke to Lisa about four years ago regarding the film. We showed her the script and asked her if she’d play the mum and to our delight she said yes.”

Lisa, of course, is no stranger to the club scene in the north west – she famously got her big break winning the M.E.N.’s Search for A Star contest over at the Willows Club in Salford in the early 80s. Meanwhile I hear film producers are going all out to create an authentic feel to the production – including training up young dancers to learn the original soul grooves of the clubs.

Elaine explains: “We started a dance club a couple of years ago with the aim of training young kids to dance to the music and to educate them about the scene.“The club’s grown massively through the likes of Facebook and so, by the time filming starts, we hope to have more than 1,000 members dancing in the large all-nighter scenes in the film.”

Now film bosses are looking for further investment in the project before filming starts in the summer.
Film link http://www.northernsoulthefilm.com