Kate Bush, Dionne Warwick, Louisa Marks, Dennis Brown, Horace Andy, Garnet Silk, Bob Marley & The Wailers, Janet Kay, Frankie Paul, Marvin Gaye, Minnie Ripprton, Carpenters, Mighty Diamonds, Heatwave, Easy stars all stars, chic, Curtis Mayfield, Aretha Franklin, Barry White, Teddy Pendergrass, George Benson, Marlena Shaw, Anita baker, Alexander O’Neil, Michael Jackson, Carleen Anderson, Randy Crawford, Erykah Badu, Omar, Jim O’Rourke, Enya, Eska, Jono McCleery, Cecilia Stalin, I could go on for days and I know that I’ve missed out loads of my favs but that will give you a rough Idea of the type of music I like. I love all kinds of music just as long as it’s got vibe.
With a voice as sweet and pure as organic honey The Duchy opens her mouth and instantly captures the listener and seems to lull them into her delightful world like some kind of magical incantation.
Duchy born to a mother with a keen interest in music, growing up in Hampshire with a rich and exotic cultural mix of Jamaican, Cuban and Scottish she seems to have the term electic coded into her genes.
As a young child she recalls rifling through her home record collection and finding the likes of Kate Bush, the Stranglers. Dennis Brown, Third World and Earth Wind and Fire, Caron Wheeler, and Omar. Considering this it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that The Duchy's original style is near impossible to pin down.
When she was just three years old she would regularly entertain her family with her rendition of "Ebony and Ivory" as a three year old and has been mesmerizing audiences ever since.
She seems to segue effortlessly through genres, wrapping her vocal chords around her emotive lyrics, tackling subject matter like Love, Humanity, Injustice and her deep love for music, with an intelligence and emotional maturity that belies her young years.
Age fourteen saw a young Duchess chaperoned by her father to her first meeting with producer Greg Craig.
Blown away by her extraordinary vocal talents he worked with her for over 4 years writing and recording. The work they did together soon caught the attention of Steve Jackson (Kiss FM) who played her music on his radio slot daily. She was also regularly played on Choice FM, Baseline FM & Vibe FM and many more.
The Duchess found herself traveling up to London more and more regularly to get into the studio and record live radio interviews to promote her music. This lead to the formal release of 'Weakness' on Jetstar records in June 96.
She then befriended fellow musicians closer to home at Farnborough Sixth Form collage Danny Sugar and Ollie Silk (Sugar & Silk) had a number of jam sessions whilst at college and penned the track “Real Love” for their second album ‘Duality "http://www.sugarandsilk.com" http://www.sugarandsilk.com
At the age of nineteen whilst still at college, Paula was introduced to a team of talented musicians In Fleet Hampshire. Professor Stretch (Producer and writer of the Underwolves), Tom-e (producer) and Billy (executive producer)
These three were soon to be key collaborators on a number of projects and opened The Duchy up to a freedom of expression she has not known before. Making music at this time felt like a breath of fresh air to the Duchy.
Finally she didn’t feel tied down to one specific genre and was allowed her to try new things and experiment with her tone, style and hone her writing skills.
It was also in Fleet where she got her stage name "The Duchess" She was starting to come out of her shell and was insisting on more creative input for her musical direction, the crew jokingly nicknamed her the Duchess for the cool and confident manner she was starting to exhibit and the name stuck, Now many people Just call her Duchy as she now prefers.
Duchy continued to write and collaborate with these producers along with some new additions and released much more material as she polished her skills along the way (see discog below) The highlight being of this collaboration was when she saw her track "So Natural" released alongside artists such as Omar and Carleen Anderson on a compilation album Called Urban Kulture on PIAS (Play It Again Sam Recordings) in October 2002
In 2003 she had another single release with the underwolves 'Get Lost' & Sunrise on Fat Fox Records and it was getting a good response with air plays on radio one, this resulted in the making of the underwolves album which led to a UK tour Supporting one of the worlds most energetic bands "Ozomatli"
In 2004 Duchess got a tip off for a TV show that were looking for young talent.
Initially she had some reservations about handing in her demo for a TV show and worried she may be pressured into compromising her art but with three days to go before the deadline she decided to take a chance and just go for it and immediately won a place in the final 6
She packed and her bags and headed with the other five finalists and crew to New York to film the channel 4 show "The Chancers"
She had no idea what to expect and although she made an effort to stay open minded and learn as much as she could she started to become frustrated working with people who seemed to want to box her into a generic style of Hip Hop and R&B and attempt to restyle her image, stripping away the individually that makes her so beautifully unique. She bonded with the other artists and gained valuable experience but ultimately left unsure as to where her place was in an industry which seemed to want to mould and control artists without letting them express themselves with freedom.
Shortly after returning from New York Duchy was approached by Mona records who had watched the show and wanted to sign her.
She signed a deal and it was decided that a big budget video would be made for one of her tracks "Come check my style"
So she flew to Norway to shoot her very first music video with Norwegian director Ray Kay who had only just finished shooting Destiny's Child's "Soldier" two days before,
The video made was glitzy and glossy and full of extras but it was then that The Duchy realized that this scene was not for her. She enjoyed being pampered but didn’t want to be preoccupied with her image. She wanted the focus to be on the music and work with producers who were on the same creative wavelength as she was. The deal with Mona records was short lived and The Duchy was relieved she found the whole experience a tremendous learning curve but was now more sure than ever that she wanted to make honest music that she would be truly proud of and did not want to have to compromise her art.
Gabriel is just one of the fine producers she's been working with who she feels she has this unspoken, creative bond with. Their track "Walking" was released on Giles Peterson's Brownswood Compilation album Bubblers (artist name Cornish Waters) released June 07
More recently she has finished recording her debut album with producer Phil Craig. A melting pot of all her influences the album is drenched in soul and peppered with flavors of folk, reggae, drum and bass and Latin.
The working relationship between these two is truly electric and the music they make has a little something for all tastes.
Blending genres effortlessly and delightfully, the production on every track is different with The Duchy's soulful and poetic vocals floating on top, creating a landscape of sound that can only be described as sonic organic food for the soul.
The music is pure vibes and that’s what excites this collaborative duo, for them its all about the vibes, that and pushing the boundaries that they face, musically, lyrically & spiritually.
greetins empress money has no value 2 me at all, easy come easy go, life is too short to hang about on the side lines doin nothin or just waitin 4 people, so my message is go get urs if u have a dream make it your reality , make it come 2 light ,coz everyday is another fight, do u and always stay high, p.s i didnt do my page it was my baby cousin.
hello there! yes i do know such people..hehe..and prob did meet you at one of those forest parties..were you going out with a dj that played some wiked sort of drum n.. bass and youre both toots and the maytals fans? wiked music by the way..ciao
Hey Duchy thanks :) ohh i know i'm rubbish but noo i haven't had even a minute to get back to work on it............. i will someday!!!!!!!!! i promise!!!! just been sooooo busy. maybe see you at cdr soon? xx
‘RIPPLE EFFECT’ "Keeping things conscious and following up their rather eclectic and experimental album Roots All Sorts, the MDV have just birthed a dynamic and vivacious live sound. Once again seasoned with that grounded MDV rootsy signature, the essence of this album speaks commandingly yet beneficently. The songs illustrate the bands live proficiencies - a steady resonance of authentic Roots Reggae, very often abandoned by the sounds of today. Ripple Effect is an intelligent and fresh assemblage of brilliant tunes with an slice of instrumental experimentation. Enjoy!" -AMF68
We always appreciate your feedback. Give Thanks MDV-1
Hey babe, thanks for the request. Sorry I aint passed round sooner, but I had trouble opening your page. Just here sending some love. Take care b. Sharon's niece Joanne x
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