Soul singer to celebrate anniversary
It’s been a decade since New Zealand singer Hollie Smith dropped her debut album and to celebrate she’s hitting the road with some extra musicians and a load of memories.
‘‘It’s definitely putting a few things into perspective really, just me thinking about the last ten years and what’s happened,’’ she said. ‘‘I’m looking forward to playing the songs again, that might bring up some weird things.’’
Joining in on the celebration, whether from behind the scenes or in the audience, will be all of the people who have been involved in Smith’s journey thus far. ‘‘It’ll be a bit of a reunion tour.’’
The commemorative shows mark the 10 year anniversary of the jazz and soul artist’s iconic album Long Player, which came out at number one on the New Zealand music charts and went on to achieve double-platinum status.
The album established Smith as one of the country’s most recognised voices and won her a slew of music awards, including Best Female Solo Artist 2007.
Smith’s six-stop circuit will play all of the tracks from the album and some, with support from singer-songwriter Mark Vanilau and young artist Teeks.
The tour kicks off in Wellington next week before moving on to New Plymouth, Christchurch, Port Chalmers, Tauranga and wrapping up in Auckland.
‘‘It’s going to be cool, we’ve got a bunch of extra musicians on the road and we’re sort of touring how we used to with the extra background vocal singers,’’ she said. While Smith is looking forward to taking a trip down memory lane, there’s no denying the decade has been filled with highs and lows for the singer.
Following her success with Long Player, she put out a further four albums, collaborated with a number of esteemed artists, received a bevy of music award nominations, toured numerous shows and performed at the prestigious Montreal Jazz Festival.
But what has defined much of the past 10 years for Smith was the collapse of her record deal with high-profile United States jazz label, Blue Note Records.
Changes within the company meant Long Player was not released internationally, leaving her broke after she had to spend much of the album’s profits from New Zealand sales to get out of the deal. ‘‘That held me back for a few years and was an incredibly difficult process to get through both emotionally and professionally. ‘‘That’s still a pretty sore spot for me.’’
But she doesn’t have any regrets and, overcoming the hardship, Smith’s resiliency and creativity eventually came up trumps. She’s currently looking at a few projects and has been busy writing songs, with about 20 stashed away ready to demo.
Smith said she’s happy with lyrics she has penned but warns the content is not all that cheerful.
‘‘It’s been a pretty emotional couple of years with losing my friend and I lost another good friend this year, and just the ups and downs of the world really.
‘‘But I am looking forward to taking them to the band and seeing what we can do with them.’’
Coinciding with the upcoming tour and to mark the anniversary, Long Player will be released on vinyl for the first time. The double LP, will have five bonus songs of her retrospective singles, including Bathe In The River.
- Tara Shaskey