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Lady Sovereign was brought up on the Chalkhill Estate in Wembley. After leaving school at 16 with no formal qualifications, she dabbled in various jobs paying her the bare minimum. Her Dad suggested acting as a last resort; she won a part in an educational film and the chance to record the soundtrack. Through a friend of a friend, the demo ended up in her producer Medasyn’s office. Since then, she has toured and performed with a plethora of A-list stars. Her profile on facepic.com has received over 95,000 independent hits and she has appeared in NME, The Face, Touch, The Telegraph, Evening Standard and The Guardian. The Londoner’s last single, ‘Random’, caused a stir amongst Hip-Hop fans across the UK when it was released back in March. She describes the track as “grime meets crunk, meets hip-hop” and says, “It’s quite cheeky, and quite a bouncy track”. Although the majority of press welcomed the track with open arms, some were indifferent. “There’s a handful of people that really don’t like it,” she says. “But that’s good, mixed opinion.”
Four months on, and the female emcee is about to release her next single, ‘9 to 5’, (the video for which has just been added to MTV and The Box). Like many artists when it comes to the summer, Lady Sovereign has been busy playing live shows and festivals in order to build up the hype for her new single and forthcoming album. She is even set to make her debut in the US, with performances planned for this month in Chicago's Sonotheque club (www.sonotheque.net) and New York's The Knitting Factory (www.knittingfactory.com), where she will be supported by Kanye West's DJ A-Trak. It is highly evident when speaking to Lady Sovereign that she is clearly not worried about a couple of people’s views on her music. “It don’t really bother me what people think,” she affirms. “I’m just doing my own thing and most people like it, which is great.” Some of the criticism could possibly have sprouted from the feature she received on the recent Sky One documentary entitled ‘Chavs’ and various websites highlighting her “Chav-like” persona. Lady Sovereign admits she actually missed the programme, but when a number of people approached her the next day to talk about it, she was slightly confused. “I didn’t realise it was an interview for ‘Chavs’” she says. “I swear they told me that it was an interview about London Grime emcees!” ‘Chav’ or not, Lady Sovereign certainly is making her mark on the scene. Although there are relatively few female emcees breaking through, she does not consider that to be a defining factor of her success. “The female emcees do stand out a lot as they come along, but I think people just see it as like, another artist, rather than an artist that’s a girl.” Born Louise Harman, the self-proclaimed “white midget” (she stands at only 5’1), proudly admits that listening to music as well as making it, is a quintessential ingredient of her day-to-day life. Her musical tastes are not quite what you might expect. She currently is enjoying Gwen Stefani’s latest album. “I listen to everything really, I’m not someone who just sits there and listens to grime beats all the time”. Her wide musical tastes also play an important role in her writing. “You can’t get inspiration from listening to one thing all the time,” she says. The interest in rock music which Lady Sovereign possesses, could, she says, lead to a Jay-Z/Linkin Park style collaboration. “The whole rock thing is a lot bigger than everything else in this world,” she says. “So it would be nice if they was to come to me rather than me going to them because then it would show that they want to unite, like how Run DMC and Aerosmith done, but it never lasted long, people should have took it further.” The young emcee is undoubtedly enjoying the benefits of being signed to a major label, but realises that she must be careful in a competitive industry if she wants to keep making music and still be at the top of her game. “I get a bit reckless with money sometimes and start spending it on sh*t like DVDs and things like that, which are going to keep me occupied when I should be writing.” Future plans for the emcee include an as yet unscheduled album release date this year, which she describes as her “personality on a CD”. Something which the youngster is relishing is the freedom to produce what she wants. “When I got signed to a major label, they never once said to me, ‘OK, you’ve got to do this’ or ‘do this track’, they’ve let me do it all myself”. Already recorded tracks include ‘A Little Bit of Shhh!’ produced by Wonder, a few collaborations with Basement Jaxx including ‘Hoody’ and ‘Blah Blah’, and tracks produced by Jacknife Lee, Danny & Target, and Roll Deep. At such a young age, the big time is just around the corner for Lady Sovereign. Asked about her ambitions for the future she says, “I want to be healthy for a start. I just want to see myself successful and still signed, making music, having a nice fan-base and touring the world.” She added, “And a number one would be nice!”
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