Imelda May
Imelda May
Imelda Mary Higham, professionally known as Imelda May, is an Irish musician, producer and singer-songwriter. Born and raised in The Liberties area of Dublin, May began her career in music at age sixteen—performing with a number of local bands and musicians— before forming her own band in 2002. She released her debut studio album, No Turning Back, in 2003 and relocated to London, United Kingdom with husband and guitarist Darrel Higham after its release...
NationalityIrish
ProfessionRock Singer
Date of Birth10 July 1974
CityDublin, Ireland
CountryIreland
I enjoy music so much; it's such a passion in my life, and I hope that comes across.
I don't tend to set out on huge world domination goals or have anything in mind. I just like to play. I like to gig a lot; I like to write music.
I couldn't think of anything worse than hating your own music and having to play it every night. It would be a nightmare.
I am not musically educated yet. I don't read - I make my own language that works for myself. But I play by ear.
For me, rockabilly is very, very exciting music. It's electric and kind of wild, you know? It's 'make your hairs stand up on the back of your neck' kind of music.
If you ask me, rockabilly has had a raw deal for far too long. People never shunned the blues or jazz the way they do rockabilly. But it's the original punk-rock, and it changed the way people looked at music for ever.
There have never been so many women in the music industry, but they're doing ballads and pop. Where's the new Joan Jetts and the Wanda Jacksons and the Debbie Harrys, all these strong women? I wanna be the woman that rocks.
One thing that did get me into a lot of different types of music was when I was very young, the local record store went out of business and they were selling off all the vinyl. I remember going in - I was probably 16 or 17 and I'd just gotten a record player as a present. It was like hitting the jackpot: all these records for $3 apiece.
In a way, I'm lucky that I was never classically trained and never went to a music college. I'm just from a normal working class family and happened to get obsessed with music as a teenager.
I'm the youngest of five - three girls and two boys. There was one record player for the seven of us. It was good for me, because I got to hear everyone else's music.
I'm lucky to come from a very musical family. If you put a record on and turn the volume up, there's a pretty good chance you'll have a lot of people dancing very quickly.
I went to a Catholic all-girls school, and we would play cassettes of music we liked, and when it was my turn, they would laugh at my choices. I would play Billie Holliday, Elmore James and Howlin' Wolf, but it was fine; if I had to listen to their choices, they had to listen to mine.
I was brought up with beautiful music - Nat King Cole and Glen Miller from my dad, and my mum loved Judy Garland and Doris Day - brilliant stuff. Through my brothers and sisters I heard David Bowie and The Specials, The Carpenters, Meatloaf and The Rolling Stones.
I never got formal training in music. I would just sit with my ear to the speaker and my hand on the needle. I'd listen to Wanda Jackson and think, 'How did she do that?,' and lift the needle and try it myself.