Special Mix
LITTLE Mix’s Leigh-anne Pinnock football star Andre Gray are engaged.
After WIRED revealed the couple had put 2020 wedding plans on hold due to the pandemic, the Watford striker made it official by finally going down on one knee.
Leigh-anne gushed: “He bloody did it, and I said yes. I’m marrying my soulmate, the man of my flipping dreams.”
R&B and electronic music is the inspiration behind Paul Weller’s new solo album – and it’s all thanks to his kids.
Due next month, On Sunset is another step away from the stately rock of the Modfather’s recent past as he embraces a more leftfield sound.
Weller said: “I’ve got teenage kids so they’ll always play me new stuff, whether it’s R&B or whatever. I wanted the new album to have that electronic thing going on too. It’s a and real mixture.” Well with eight kids, he must get to hear a lot of new music around the house.
Soul is nothing new to Weller, who has embraced it since his Style Council days, but it’s a genre that’s become more important to him.
He continued: “It’s a soul album. If you carry on doing something long enough you get better at it and that’s what happened with me. It feels very natural anyway.
“When I hear gospel and spiritual music, without even being religious in any way, it always connects with me. There’s something very fundamental about song that registers with us as humans.”
On Sunset will be the 62-yearold’s 15th solo album since he left The Jam, whose No1 hits included Going Underground. But he has no plans to retire: “I’m as surprised as anyone else that I’m still here.
“I’ve spent an awfully long time in the business; but the joy’s still there.
The enthusiasm and the love for the music, it’s still there. I can’t wait back to get in the studio.”
Weller hasn’t always comes across as the most chipper rock star but he insists he’s simply misunderstood.
He told Shindig!: “For all my public image of being grumpy, I’m pretty optimistic. I want the music to reflect that as well. It’s a natural state for me to try and look at things in a positive light. Maybe that comes from getting older, I don’t know.”