HotStar: Paloma Faith

Paloma Faith isn’t just another in a long line of dramatic British singers, though she is that.  The multitalented 26-year-old is also an accomplished songwriter, actor and rising fashion icon.

She’d been recording as a solo artist since 2009. But it was a surprise weekend  festival collaboration with Prince two years later that set her course on a trajectory for global stardom.

While she was writing songs for Fall To Grace, the Purple One handpicked Faith to perform at NPG Music and Arts Festival in Copenhagen, where he mentored her in what she calls “a real turning point for me.”

Her musical style is diverse, ranging from pop to blues to the highly danceable. And she is involved with every aspect of her performance, down to the visual imagery that accompanies her music and the design of her stage sets.

Faith earned Brit award nominations for best female singer and best album this year, and will soon release “Black & Blue,” her fourth track from Fall To Grace as she embarks on a global tour. She hasn’t quite taken America by storm yet, but that is about to change.

She’s already taken a swing through the States, catching the eyes and ears of a wide audience in December with an auspicious performance on “Late Night with David Letterman.” Faith put on a show-stopping performance for Letterman and his fellow Kennedy Center Honors recipients, Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones.

She will play her biggest UK live show to date on June 7 at the O2 in London.  In addition to wrapping up work on her third album, Faith will perform at festivals including T in the Park and be a fixture on a “tour of forests,” a fundraising concert series benefiting England’s woodland areas. – Deborah Speer