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Della Miles

Della Miles Radio

General Info

  • Genre: Soul

    Location NEW YORK / BERLIN, New York, US

    Profile Views: 68943

    Last Login: 1/11/2011

    Member Since 4/16/2008

    Record Label Ohne Vertrag

  • Bio

    .. .. .. .. .. .......... .. ....I LIKE YOU.... .... .. .. .. .. .. .... ....................................... .... ............................ .. .. .. .. .. .... ....................................... .... ....INTRODUCING DELLA MILES.... .... Whenever there’s talk about a “song you can’t get out of your head”, chances are you are thinking about the artist as much as you are about the song itself. Sure, there’s the melody, arrangement, lyrics, instrumentation and voice, but they are not what conveys the feeling that a certain song is actually meant for you only. Songcraft is not mathematics, and singing is more than can be expressed in notes and scales. Even in our technically advanced day and age (and maybe even more so) there’s still no substitute for the original artist and his or her ability to connect with an audience of strangers. If we’re lucky, there’ll never be. .... The point in case being of course Della Miles, a 31-year-old from Houston, Texas, who could very well wind up soundtracking your life in 2008 and beyond. .... Born into an extended family of six brothers and sisters, Della had her musical tastes developed from an early age. “I came in touch with music through my parents”, she remembers. “My mother used to play piano in church, so I pretty much grew up there. She directed choirs and the like. There was always something going on at church, whether it was rehearsal, bible studies or just a meeting. Every day of the week I was in church. I was in the choir and I did lots of leads. That was where I got the confidence to sing lead and that’s when I learned I had a good voice.” .... At home Della would listen to the jazz records of Miles Davis and Ella Fitzgerald that her father was very fond of at the time. An accomplished jazz musician himself, he turned her on to the influences that can now be heard in Della’s music. Her own tastes at that time also included Michael Jackson: “When I was a child and he was in his prime, I thought I was going to be Mrs. Jackson. And when you look back now on those records... he was brilliant.” .... During her teenage years Della began performing in Houston clubs, sometimes along with her sister, while simultaneously attending high school. After some college years studying Criminal Justice Della decided that “music is really all I want to do” and started out for LA. Knowing only one person in the city, it was a scary place for a young girl to be, but Della claims she “did her research”. “It was always my dream to record my own songs and to perform them live - I want that more than anything. So my instinct led me to go to clubs and to sit in on open mic nights. After the show you wait around for people to give you their phone number, and that’s how it started.” .... Della caught the attention of several music industry suits, and soon found herself choosing between engagements. She sang backing vocals on Whitney Houston’s Millennium Tour (“That’s where I got my big training”) and cut an album with producer Barry Rosenthal. The record featured selections that played to Della’s vocal strength but lacked the originality which her own penmanship would bring to the recordings. When Rosenthal tragically died on the eve of it's completion, Della saw her album get sucked into record company limbo and embarked on a prestigious European Advertising Tour for Mercedes Benz instead. It was in that capacity that she caught the attention of Marius Müller-Westernhagen, who overheard her from another room and was struck with her incredible voice. The two were introduced and instantly took a liking to one another. But before anything could come out of their acquaintance, Miles was off to America again with an appetite to write her own songs. .... Westernhagen, a bona fide rockstar in his own right, remembered Della a few years later and invited her to accompany him on tour. And the million-selling songwriter with the trademark gravelly voice was not content to have Della feature somewhere in the wings singing back-up, but rather turned the spotlight on her. In front of the packed stadium-sized audiences he walked her down the runway, giving her away to the audience to sing solo. “I was shaking like a leaf ”, Miles confesses, “but at the same time it was really, really sweet. It was like releasing a bird. And that was the first time I felt I could handle so many people.” .... Westernhagen was so impressed with Miles’ abilities on the microphone that upon learning she wrote her own songs, he instantly offered to produce an album with her and Della agreed. Although she had been a seasoned recording artist already, this cooperation allowed her for the first time to free herself from the commercial restraints that she feels have marred her previous efforts. “In a lot of ways this record feels more like a liberation”, says Della, who co-wrote ten of the twelve songs on the album. “The emotions during the production of SIMPLE DAYS, I've never experienced them before, and most everything I write is from experience.” .... You can feel that much. The album is informed by the sensual sounds of classic soul music, melding heart-felt and personal lyrics with an engaging assortment of varying styles. “I was going through a lot at the time, and a lot of the music shows that”, says Miles, who confirms to a singer-songwriter approach to the material, “but with jazz elements.” .... The songs on SIMPLE DAYS were conceived during a four-year interval in which Della’s solo act developed. Having written almost incessantly, the singer finally felt she came into her own as a self-assured songwriter as well as a matured performer. Hence the record showcases a remarkable range of style, both thematically and musically. From the wistful teasing of “Speak Up” to the full-on swing of “Simple Days” and the fragile beauty of “Heaven”, Miles is at home in a number of genres and she’s not afraid to let it show. There’s the quietly (or rather not too quietly) romantic ballad “In my Dreams” back to back with the up-beat musings of “Where is the U” as well as a haunting cover version of John Lennon’s “Love”. The simple songs are the best”, says Miles who has found herself struggling for that kind of clarity all through her career. “Today I find it comparatively easy to write, because I only do it when I feel like I have to say something.” .... Della Miles’ songs are the kind of tunes that make you notice the labour that went into their conception. Not in a bad way, though, it’s more like a labour of love. The songs have the distinguished feel of a time-honoured approach that doesn’t forgo classic songwriting techniques in favour of clever gimmicks. Rather than revelling in the convulsively modern styles today’s production wizardry can afford you, the record is pervaded by the same purity and allure old Motown singles used to display. And like their forbearers they seem to champion the concept of love (both lost and won) and self-respect over all that there is in detached comment and post-modern posturing. “I think love songs are coming back”, Della says, “Actually, we are right on time. Because there are none and we’re missing them. Plus, I think being authentic is what people want today. In the end being true to yourself is more important than a manufactured image.” .... Accordingly, Miles describes “I Like You” as one of her favourite songs on the album. “I think most women would like to know that they’re liked. Not just loved. People fall in and out of love constantly. But when you like someone you tend to have more respect for them.” With SIMPLE DAYS it’s all about respect and the nurturing side of music. “For me it’s actually an album for women”, the singer confesses. “And of course men are very welcome. But I think with most of the experiences I went through during writing I could be a mouthpiece for what a lot of women think and go through…...and I mean a woman not a little girl. I feel it’s totally okay that you’re not twelve trying to sell experience. Because you need real experience.” .... With Della Miles, the experience is actually worthwhile and strangely inviting. Maybe it has something to do with that formidable voice that manages to express something more about the human condition than is available with pre-fabricated entertainment tidbits. Maybe it’s in the arrangements, all effortless amalgam of lush orchestration and vintage soul that resonates with listeners both casual and intent. Or maybe it is the artist after all, even if he or she may decline that responsibility. .... “I’m looking forward to the kind of artists who establish songs, not themselves”, Della Miles says. .... She should be looking at herself. Then again, hers is the ultimate bias. ..

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