Tracie Young: I came across an advert in Smash Hits placed by Paul Weller looking for someone to sing and sent off a cassette. I passed. When I went on Top of the Pops with The House That Jack Built, I'd just turned 18 and was famous overnight. But it all disappeared just as quickly. I couldn't sing the way I sounded on the record as my voice had been speeded up. I sounded like Minnie Mouse on helium. Then we had a major falling out about the next record. We had a blazing row because I hated the song. In 1985, I recorded a song I loved called I Can't Leave You Alone that never got higher than number 60. I was devastated. I stopped singing and put the music business behind me. In 1989 I got married and moved to the Midlands where I ran a couple of pubs for eight years. Then we moved to Southend and joined Essex FM doing traffic and travel reports. I've now got my own Tracie Young Show on Sunday afternoons. But I never play my old records - because I don't like them!
Beat Surrender: The pop star Paul Weller created gives in to fans’ requests
July 20, 2010
by jack s
Paul Weller’s Eighties protégé, Tracie Young – known then simply as Tracie - has been persuaded by a long-running campaign by fans to reissue her debut album, Far From The Hurting Kind – originally released on Weller’s, Respond label in 1984.
Produced by Weller and featuring songs written by him, Elvis Costello and Respond label-mates The Questions and A Craze, the album has been reissued by Cherry Red in an enhanced 20 track format and is the first time it has been available on CD or digital download in the UK. The hit singles The House That Jack Built and Give It Some Emotion (both 1983) are also included.
Tracie says, “I’ve released the record now for the people who liked my music back then and for a new audience that is perhaps discovering the 80s for the first time and loves hearing material that hasn't been over-exposed. Although this is primarily a pop album, each track is very different from the other. Some artists make an album that sounds like ten remixes of one song, not this album! There's pop, there's funk, there's a bit of Northern soul/60s girl group influence and ballads.”
“It was quite a privilege to work with Paul, especially at a time when he was feeling experimental and up for doing new things. He was a lot of fun to be around, too. Respond didn’t thrive but I think today - more than ever - the music industry needs a label with the ethos that Paul gave Respond”.
The two major hits were not included on the original album release in 1984, a nod to Weller’s ideal that good bands and singers released albums and singles as separate projects -“I understand that now. Paul was raised on The Beatles and a time when singles and albums didn’t have to be in tandem, but in the 80’s things were different. It was a mistake to release an album by an artist like me, who had only had two hits, and not include those singles - it was a huge disappointment to many fans. This reissue now includes the hit singles and another eight bonus tracks – B-sides, 12” mixes and a couple of recent live versions.”
The live tracks include a version of Give It Some Emotion, performed by Tracie in 2009 at a very rare performance at Shepherd’s Bush Empire – her first in twenty years. That gig inspired her to rediscover and release her own back-catalogue. What’s more, Tracie tantalisingly refuses to rule out doing more live shows in the future.
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