Interview with Lisa Stansfield

Lisa Stansfield relaxing at the Feel Good Cafe in Rochdale

Lisa Stansfield's latest album, Seven, is due to be released on Monday (10 February) and Lisa sat down with Rochdale Online at The Feel Good Café for a chat about her latest music.

Rochdale born Lisa last released music in 2004 before heading into acting. Lisa said: “It just felt like the right time to get back into music now. With people like Adele, Emelie Sandé and John Newman being played, I realised that I could do it again.”

Lisa describes Seven as her best album yet. She said: “I think this is my best album yet and a lot of people have also said that. Everyone seems to have one favourite song and that seems to be different with every person, and I like that.”

Seven, which is Lisa’s seventh album, is described by the singer as a “soulful jazzy album”. She added: “It seems to have gone full circle and in a sense it is a lot like the first album. You could say it’s like the same person but with a different head because it is the same album but a different style.”

The album was recorded at Gracieland in Rochdale, a recording studio built by Lisa in 1989.

Choosing a name for the album wasn’t too hard for Lisa, as it seems it had already been decided for her. “I was promoting the album and people kept calling it seven. I would tell them it's not called seven but they would respond with, oh well people are saying that’s what it's called. So after that when we came home it just seemed to stick. It does help that it is the seventh album as well but we didn’t have any other names really,” said Lisa.

Can't Dance, the latest single released from the album, is a song that Lisa thinks shows fans what this latest album has to offer. She said: “There are a lot of different moods on the album but I think Can't Dance shows the soulful jazzy side. The whole album certainly blends together though.”

Talking about the writing process, Lisa said: “I love writing songs. I feel like it is a therapy for me and the whole process is different every time. Sometimes we’ll start with the music or we’ll start with a lyric or a title and go from there but it is certainly different every time.”

Lisa has worked with her husband Ian Devaney again for this album. Speaking of their working relationship, Lisa said: “The professional relationship and the personal relationship rarely cross. Sometimes they do merge a little but we never let it get in the way of what we are doing.”

Lisa is currently busy promoting the album with a number of interviews, radio and TV appearances lined up. Lisa also hopes to tour in the near future with dates for Europe already announced.

She said: “I think we will be touring in the summer. I haven’t played Rochdale in a long time so it would be nice to play here again.”

Lisa said she would consider making an appearance at this year's Feel Good Festival. She added: “If schedules allowed me to then I would definitely love to play the festival.”

Lisa’s album 'Seven' is available from Monday.