January/February 2010

Valentine’s Special
(Exclusive Preview)

Artist: Mica Paris
Venue: Rich Mix
Date: Saturday 13th February 2010
Time: 8pm
Price: £20 (£15 in advance)
Stars:

Preview by Joy Francis

Mica Paris is a soul survivor. She admits to Words of Colour that the music industry ‘has spit me out and said that I was finished many times’. This from the woman who in 1988, while still a teenager, released her debut platinum-selling album So Good, from which she had her first top ten hit with You Are My One Temptation. An impressive collaboration with American soul singer Will Downing followed on a cover version of Where is the Love, a song made famous by Donny Hathaway and Roberta Flack in the early 70s.

Over 20 years later she is promoting Born Again, her first studio album in ten years, and will be singing some of her most famous and favourite love songs at Rich Mix for Valentine’s Day. She will be crooning songs from her new album which she describes as ‘really romantic’. She says that the album’s title track ‘is about me having a new love and it is essentially about renewal’. Mica clearly still has some clout in the industry as Eric Benet and James Morrison are just a few of the wordsmiths who have written songs especially for her powerful, uplifting and gospel inspired vocals.

Though Valentine’s Day is promoted for couples only, Mica’s forthcoming gig at Rich Mix, she says, is for singles, siblings and lovers alike. Backed by a full band, the concert will touch on gospel with a tinge of torch song diva-ness. ‘I’ve never been happy about people naming a day for an occasion. We need to be loving and romantic every day, be it with friends or in sexual relationship.’

After writing a best selling book on self confidence and body image ‘Beautiful Within’, replacing Trinny and Susannah with Lisa Butcher on BBC1’s What Not to Wear, showing her Caribbean culinary skills on Celebrity Come Dine with Me and designing clothes for Simply B, Mica seems keen to remind people of her first love – singing. ‘People forget that I’m a singer. I love the live thing. I’m a bit of a romantic and crooner so anything to do with love I’m there.’

Born Again, the single, will be released in March 2010. What isn’t openly known is that it is a song that comeback queen Whitney Houston tried to wrench from friend Mica. ‘Whitney is good people but the song was written for me. It reflects what I’ve been through and that I’m having a new lease of life.’

So what can people expect from the show? ‘It is important for me that people are moved when they come to a show,’ Mica explains. ‘That is what I got from my gospel upbringing. Music should make people feel something and move you spiritually. It’s not about it being cute or that you can only dance to it. I want those who come to the concert to be moved and to see that they need to value the people in their lives’.

For more information about the concert visit www.richmix.org.uk

To find out about Mica’s gig dates visit www.micaparis.com

For the chance to a pair of tickets to see Mica Paris at Rich Mix go to our Competition page.

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