Jazz singer Gregory Porter

The jazz singer on recording his new album, interviewing his heroes and finding fame in his 40s

I’d be a different artist if I came out at 19 or 20

What can people expect from your new album, All Rise? Although I still regard myself as a jazz singer, I borrow from all of its cousins – soul, gospel, blues. The overarching theme is love and its complexities. Dealing with personal issues can be universal. I’m looking forward to people getting the record and finding their personal story in my personal story, because it happens every time.

How important has the UK been to your career?

This is where my energy started, thanks to people like Jools Holland, Jamie Cullum and the BBC playing my music. My producer is from London and we used the London Symphony Orchestra for the strings on this record. It’s been wonderful and the UK has welcomed me with open arms.

Would your career look different if you’d found success younger?

I’d be a different artist if I came out at 19 or 20. I also don’t know if I would have the stories, because now I’ve lived a bit. I don’t even know, with the patience of our culture now, if they would allow me to even still be here if I’d started at 21, so I’m thankful for the time I’m in and for what I represent in the marketplace. Maybe there’s not so many of the grounded, soulful, truly optimistic singers out there who come from a background of gospel, soul or jazz, so if I’m one of the last then I’m grateful for the time I’m in.

Did you fear you weren’t going to make it?

I absolutely thought I wasn’t going to get here, not even maybe, it just wasn’t going to happen. You get this idea of thinking if I didn’t make it by 25, it’s not going to happen. I sort of snuck in the back door, because I made a jazz record that people thought would sell about 5,000 copies, but it sold many more than that, and it just kept going. I work with my original band – we played together in a small club in Harlem – and it’s wonderful to take them around the world and be together after all these years. I’m just trying to be as genuine and soulful as I was with my first record. I’m thankful to the fans for giving me the opportunity to stand on their shoulders and whisper in their ears.

What’s it like to interview some of your heroes on your podcast, The Hang?

The variety of people I’ve had on has been amazing. Annie Lennox was one of the favourite conversations I’ve had in my life. I try to get to the root of what it is that moved people to have their careers and still influences it today. The roots of me are all over my music and what’s beautiful is that other people identify with it.