MIM GREY - I CAN'T MAKE YOU LOVE ME

THE BACKSTORY TO THE RECORDING.....
A friend, Danny Williams, approached me about working with an artist he had started managing by the name of Mim Grey. We met, we hung out, and we chewed the fat about life, music and the universe. I checked out Mim's music which was certainly good; expensive sounding, well written, well played, well produced. Faultless in fact. Very Radio 2 friendly as over 120 plays on various flagship BBC programmes surely evidenced.

But as we talked, I couldn't help noticing the soul and, dare I say, heartbreak in those piercing pale blue/green eyes of the artist in question. It was about 3am in the morning, a few bottles of red to the good, that I remember saying to Mim and Danny 'if we work together, I wanna hear the real you, the real artist, raw and exposed. Put the vocal on a pedestal, bear your soul to the world and not hide behind a coat of slick production, co-writes and 'made for radio' nature of proceedings'. I can't remember if it was me, Danny or Mim herself who exampled 'I Can't Make You Love Me' as the kind of tune that had the right kind of lyric and vibe to achieve that but, whoever it was, we all agreed it was a decent suggestion. .

Roll on a month or two, and I'd taken Mim to our go-to master producer, Mark Edwards, for a 'stripped back' recording session of some Mim originals (coming soon!). All went well and, so much that we had about 20 minutes left at the end of the first day. Mim said 'Why don't we just take a pass at that song we mentioned?'. Mark didn't know the song so hastily took some brief notes as he listened through just the once and then, without further ado, pressed record and laid down a piano take while Mim simultaneously put down a vocal. That performance is what you hear here, albeit with a bit of light Hammond added the following morning by Mark. Raw? indeed! ...Imperfect? perhaps?. But for my money, Mim just nails it with unforced natural emotion which mixing/fixing and mastering may only weaken, in terms of the emotional power of the performance.

I'm sure it will be mixed and mastered for future 'official' release at some point, but till then, enjoy this ad hoc 'in the moment' performance which, to my ears, is up there with the best in class.

MORE ABOUT MIM

Long-admired as a stellar UK vocal and songwriting talent, London-born Mim Grey has a deeply soulful voice and evocative tone. She sings the story of her life in the tradition of the classic songwriters.

“She's my favourite singer” - Sir Tom Jones

“The most beautiful voice to come out of the UK in a very long time” - Michael Ball

“She's rather good and rather gorgeous but don't let that influence you” - Robert Elms, BBC Radio London.

Over the years, Mim has plied her trade with and for some of the best in the business. Sir Paul McCartney is a fan and repeat offender when it comes to booking her for personal engagements.

As an in-demand stage and studio session vocalist and multi-instrumentalist for numerous international household names, her talent has no doubt embellished much of the sound that has permeated your ears, even co-writing songs for the likes of Kylie Minogue.

Her first two albums, Grey Matters and Chasing Tigers, were incredibly well received with mainstream radio support from the likes of Paul O'Grady, Sarah Kennedy, Robert Elms and the late Sir Terry Wogan asa Radio 2 play-listed artist and her forthcoming new material is sure to garner equally lofty support and acclaim.

In addition to her albums, Mim has enjoyed success with single releases, most notably ‘Just As You Are’ and ‘Ways Of Love’, with both achieving No.1 chart positions in the UK Country Charts. She also wrote and released the BBC Radio 2 play-listed 'Xmas Kiss' which made charts on both sides of the Atlantic and was featured in ‘Foster’, a film starring Richard E Grant and Toni Collette