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By Kirstin McLetchie

How do you go from being a virtually unknown struggling artist from North London to become Britain’s premiere soul singer whose appeal is so widespread that it defies any rules of race, age and gender?

Still at the tender age of 27, Lemar has already achieved what most can only dream of and his future only looks set to be even brighter. Having gained national recognition for his talents on TV’s ‘Fame Academy’, the former bank clerk has come a long way from his modest upbringing in Tottenham and Edmonton.

Following the September release of his new album ‘The Truth About Love’, Lemar is now three albums deep into his career, and has established himself as a force to be reckoned with. The star talks frank to The Situation about life, struggles and his latest release – a project he proudly refers to as the best album of his career.

What direction have you decided to take with your new album ‘The Truth About Love’?
This album I think is just very soulful, you know I tried to go soulful all the way. It’s with live musicians; I got the best musicians I could find from all around the world kinda flown into England, and we recorded the songs that had already been written. I wrote and co-wrote the majority of the songs on the album and picked them, and then we got live musicians to come in and to record it in that old skool kinda fashion, you know, everybody in the one room just jamming. So, it’s definitely got a soulful feel. A soulful old skool kinda feel.

Do you feel like, with this album you had a lot more of a hands on approach than you maybe had with the other two?
Oh yeah. I think this album’s extremely musical and I definitely had a hands-on approach from the beginning, all the way to the very end. I was in with the guy who was mixing the album and you know, giving him my input. I was in whilst they were recording it and I obviously wrote & co-wrote most of the songs as well, so I had a very strong influence on the album.

Your new single is ‘Someone Should Tell You’. What’s the inspiration behind that particular song?
I co-wrote this song and I think again, it’s another song people can relate to. When you’re a friend to someone, and you’re that shoulder that they lean on all the time and you know secretly, you’re falling in love with them, you know? They’re always telling you about their partner and they’re always telling you about how things are wrong and things are hard, and you’re saying to yourself, you know someone should tell you that I love you because he’s treating you wrong and I can treat you better!

Avenues such as Channel U & MySpace.com have given artists a massive platform in the UK. What do you think of these mediums? Do you wish something like that had been around for you to use earlier on in your career too?
Of course yeah, I think MySpace & YouTube.com and Channel U… any avenue that gives people a chance to show their work whatever it be, as we all know it doesn’t have to be the finished glossy video, it could just be a demo or a handheld cam just showing your talent and your ability, I think that’s amazing. When I was trying to get through, if those things had been there then I’d have been so grateful, because the biggest power that an artist can have, or a talented person can have, is just exposure. You know, once you’ve rehearsed. The only reason you go to a record company is because you need exposure; you want them to put the posters up, you want them to put a video out, you want them to get you on every single radio station so that people can hear you. But what things like YouTube and you know, Channel U and MySpace and all those things, it gives a little more power back to the artist, and you know I think that’s really good.

Do you think these things can sometimes also have a negative impact on artists, as Channel U is often referred to as the comedy channel?!
I think it can be a double-edge sword. It depends what you want; if you just wanna be organic and if that’s what you’re about and that’s what you wanna be, then you’ve gotta accept kinda what comes with it, but then if you wanna expand you know, and get into the mainstream and do certain other things, then fair enough, you’ve got to try not to get stuck in that zone. You know, I think there’s people that release song after song after song after song in that zone, and then after a while you get known for that, you know? I think it’s just using one or two songs and trying to break yourself and then, try and move on or try and get a bigger budget or try and go to a different company or get an investor, then it’s different, yeah.

Inner city youth, particularly young Black guys are still unfortunately too often portrayed in a bad light in the press. What advice would you give to youths to try and challenge these bad stereotypes which are still present in the media today?
I think the proof is in the pudding you know. I think inevitably sometimes when it can feel like when something bad happens, it’s focused on more than when something good happens, you know that can be the case at times. But I think the best way to combat any kind of negativity, is with positivity, you know? Any time that you do have a chance to shine, just shine and try being a good example you know, anytime there’s a chance to be angry or be happy, try the happier route or try the more positive route, so that you know, not only that you prove other people wrong, but also you inspire other people who you know, might be feeling a bit negative at that time in their lives. They might look at you and think, do you know what, I can relate to him or her so let me try, try something different, a different approach. So I think those who are already in the limelight or those who are being focused on should try their best to be on their Ps and Qs and give a good enough example.

You did a recent stint at the Jazz Café. How did that come about and how do you think your performances went down?
D’ya know what? I really enjoyed it; I really enjoyed performing there you know, it was four nights in all and I was really chuffed about that, that people came out and supported me like that. It was packed and I really enjoyed it. I just wanted to do something a bit different. Sometimes you do an album release and you know people come and hear the album you know, see you perform one or two songs, but on this one I wanted to get out the live element and get some strings involved and the whole percussion section going, you know? I just wanted it to be a different approach and to show me in a slightly different light to what people have seen me in already. And yeah it’s done alright; it’s pretty cool and I’m happy.

Which artists are you really feeling at the moment?
Anthony Hamilton you know, I like his album a lot. Who else is there… is that all?! I’ve listened to John Legend’s new one, thought Beyoncé’s album was alright. Erm, Justin Timberlake’s doing alright at the moment. I like Paolo Nutini, you know that Scottish guy, white guy that’s 19… his voice, man! He’s soulful, but slightly more you know, almost indie. It’s not indie, it’s soul, but it’s got that slight twinge; it leans slightly more towards that area but it’s really good. Between him and Anthony Hamilton, I’m liking that a lot.

Is that what you’re mainly into, like soul, neo-soul?
D’ya know what, I’m pretty open. I like soul, I like a bit of hip hop, I like a bit of rock. I always try & keep myself a little bit diverse, especially because you know when you try and write a song, if I listened to R&B all the time or soul all the time or rock all the time, then you just start writing songs that are so… generic. So I try and listen to a lot so that when I go and do my own stuff it’s slightly different.

Do you ever go and see any other artists perform at all - if you get time?
Yeah, when I do get a moment I try! I saw Paolo Nutini recently at Astoria. I saw John Legend at the Royal Albert Hall as well. Yeah, both those shows were really good.

Of all the live performances you’ve done, which has been your personal favourite?
Ooh, favourite live performance… Probably, I mean, there’s a few different ones. On my last tour, I liked doing [London’s] Hammersmith Apollo. I really enjoyed that last night there, that was really, really good. And also I did something for I think it was the Capital FM Help A London Child. It was in Wembley Arena and they’d put the stage in the middle of the arena, so it was almost like a boxing ring and everyone was around, and it was, it was a real exciting feeling getting on that little stage and it was just me and an acoustic guitar as well, so it was great. It was pretty cool, yeah!

You’ve got like a really squeaky clean image. Do you ever get the urge to just be really bad?!
Do I ever wanna be bad?! Yeah, rebel and come out in boxers and smash things! Erm, you know, I just think there’s a time and a place for everything. I do have my moments but I choose carefully how and when and where I display my feelings, but I do like to have a good time, I do like to enjoy myself, I do like to travel, I do like to rave and to do all sorts of things you know, but there’s a time and a place. What people see, and what goes on you know, isn’t always necessarily the case!

So you’re not as nice as people think you are?!
I’m nice! I’m a nice person, I try to be nice… try to!

Where do you see yourself in the future? Where would you like to see yourself?
Ooh, erm… you know, I just want more of the same you know? I love music, I love writing songs, I’d love to write for some other people as well you know, hopefully that opportunity will come up as well as time goes on. Erm, and I’d just like to, take the music thing as far as it will go, and after that, once I start getting bored of that and I start thinking about work, then I’ll start thinking of other things to do. But right now I just wanna do more and more music, you know, write with more people and travel a bit more, and try and take my music to other countries and other territories as well.

Do you know if there are any plans as yet to promote your music in the States?
That’s the intention; I’d like this album to do well and be successful and then, I think if that does well enough over here, then hopefully next year at some stage, maybe nearer the end of the year, I’ll be able to make plans and take some trips, take some journeys. When we sat down and we spoke about it you know, I just wanted to make sure that the album that I do take, is near enough ‘the one’ you know, and I really do feel like this one represents me fully and it’s complete from beginning to end - it’s got that one sound from beginning to end, and you know, I’m really happy taking this one over.

You mentioned you like to listen to all different types of music. Would you be happy to collaborate with artists from different musical genres?
Yeah, I’m open you know. Sometimes I think the best collaborations come from the more obvious ones and sometimes from the less obvious ones as well you know, so I’m pretty open. Anything musical, anything good you know, I’d love to get involved.

And last but not least…What’s the best West Indian in London?!
Ha ha ha! The best West Indian?! Ooh in London, that’s a hard one… I’m usually up Mr. Jerks!

Lemar’s third album ‘The Truth About Love’ is in stores now. The second single ‘Someone Should Tell You’ is out November 20th, 2006.