Focus Music Notes. "Out of the Blues". Popular music through the decades

Ray Blk who has established herself as one of the UK's most challenging and important female voices, drops her new Island single "Lovesick", the first release from the South London artist's eagerly awaited debut album. "Lovesick" comes hot on the heels of Ray's track "Warriors", the lead song from the universally acclaimed girlhood drama ROCKS. Ray wrote the powerful anthem specifically for the film and both these new tracks show an artist at the height of her creative powers and bode well for the album which will be released in 2021. Speaking about the inspiration behind "Lovesick" Ray says: " Lovesick is a revenge song. It's about taking control and reclaiming your power after being disrespected in a relationship and getting even. I'm always trying to empower women not to take disrespect sitting down but to keep a distance from people who don't make them feel good about themselves and boss up because success is the

A 7” singles box set comprising all of Amy Winehouse’s memorable singles from the Frank, Back To Black and Lioness: Hidden Treasures albums, will be released on November 20th.  Featured tracks include ‘Stronger Than Me’, ‘Rehab’ and ‘Love Is A Losing Game’, all of which won the Ivor Novello Award for Amy in 2004, 2007 and 2008. The set also includes the Grammy Award winning ‘Body and Soul’, a duet with the legendary Tony Bennett. The singles will be housed in individual picture sleeves and pressed on black vinyl. The deluxe box also features a 20-page lyrics booklet and a set of art cards.  The following week November 27 th , The Collection, a  5CD collection featuring the albums Frank, Back To Black and Lioness: Hidden Treasures, will be released via UMC/Island.   Frank was Amy’s debut album, originally released on 20 th October 2003 and features the hit single ‘Stronger Than Me’ for which Amy won an Ivor Novello Award in 2004. Back To Black, widely regarded as a masterpiece by

Miraa May, songwriter, performer, artist and sheer force of nature follows her critically acclaimed Dark EP, co-write on Jorja Smith’s Top 10 hit “Be Honest” and recent paean to her new-born son, “Baby”, with her the video for her new Island single “Say Yeah”. The video features WSTRN and Harry Pinero. You can catch a glimpse of the making of the track on the new episode of Miraa’s YouTube mini-series ‘Miraa & Friends’ which features Haile. “Say Yeah’ is the third new song Miraa has released in 2020, following “Woman Like Me” & ‘Baby’ and is the start of a new chapter as she embarks on the journey of motherhood. Miraa recently featured in a new documentary created by The Face magazine called ‘Voices of Jamaica’ which followed 15 artists on a week-long writing retreat put together by UK producer Cadenza. The film features Jorja Smith, Miraa May, Amine, Proteje and legendary producers Dre Skull, Guilty Beatz, & P2J amongst others. Miraa has also been busy filming, and now rel