As she returns with her eighth studio album, ‘A Place In Your Heart’, Gabrielle looks back at three decades of success and a career that’s inspired generations of artists going forward.
The singer-songwriter launched to the top of the UK charts with her debut single, Dreams, back in 1993, and has scored numerous hits in the years that followed, including Out Of Reach, Sunshine, When A Woman and Rise, along with her most recent singles, A Place In Your Heart and Sorry.
When she started out back in 1993, Gabrielle’s sound was worlds away from the majority of the pop charts at the time. It was an intentional move, she says, to not follow trends.
“I didn’t know how to do or be anything else. I could only be myself,” Gabrielle tells RETROPOP’s May 2024 cover feature. “When I look back, I was still bigger than a lot of the girls back in those days, so they were showing skin – which, fair play to them, if you’ve got the body then why not show it – and I didn’t, so I just did my thing and was true to myself.
“And I was really lucky because I had a record company who weren’t asking me to be anything other than me.”
To this day, she insists there are “more pressures on females than males” in the industry, but Gabrielle hopes that in embracing her authenticity she inspired future generations to not feel obliged or pressured to conform.
“You have to do what works for you,” she maintains. “I wore the eyepatch because of having a lazy eyelid, but I’m thankful if it inspired other people to say, ‘You know what, Gabrielle’s got a lazy eyelid but she didn’t stop her from making music and having success’.
“Obviously, people were like, ‘Who does she think she is?’, but if someone who’s not the normal look for TV comes on the screen then you have no choice but to check them out. Over the years, people have said that’s inspired them and I hope that, if nothing else, I’m an inspiration for being your true authentic self.”
Among those who cite Gabrielle as an influence is Mahalia, who features on the new ‘A Place In Your Heart‘ track Good Enough. “She is phenomenal. She’s incredible and she’s a sweetie,” beams the star. “I got to meet for the first time when I did BST and opened up for Adele [in Hyde Park, London] and it was amazing.
“She’s got the most amazing vocals and I rarely do duets, but when I did Good Enough it was like if you’re gonna do something with someone [it’s got to be her]. As a young British female, it just made sense. She’s wicked.”
How does she feel that so many artists, like Mahalia and Adele (who hand selected the support line-up for her BST performance in 2022), cite her as an influence? “I feel blessed,” smiles Gabrielle. “I sometimes think to myself, ‘I can’t believe I inspired this person’.
“When people credit me as someone they listened to as they were growing up, I’m like, ‘Wow’. It’s a nice feeling and it’s still something that I find hard to believe. If by me doing my thing, which I felt was very simple, inspired these mega superstars then I’ll take that.
“Even though I’ve got no right to take it, because they were always going to be big, huge stars in their own right!”
