As she marks 20 years since the release of her debut album, singer Corinne Bailey Rae is happy to admit that family has now become a major part of her career.
She still tours the world playing new music, as well as hits including Put Your Records On and Like a Star, but she’s now accompanied by her two young daughters, as well as their dad, who’s in her band, and her mum, who helps look after the girls.
And it’s not just the musical side of her career that the kids, who are aged six and eight, are involved in. Bailey Rae has just written a children’s book called Put Your Records On, which evolved with the help of her little ones.
“I’m enjoying motherhood, but it’s definitely a challenge,” says the singer-songwriter, who lives in her home town of Leeds and is touring the US this year.
“It’s been really good to be able to tour with my children – I’ve been really lucky, privileged, to be able to take them out with me. My husband plays in the band, and my mother is travelling with us, so that’s really useful.
“It’s been good that everyday life back in Leeds and going to the park and cooking meals, that all feels normal, but also sitting on a tour bus driving through America, or sitting in a show for them, or going to a museum in San Francisco, or to stroke koalas in Australia – all of that is normal to them because they’re always with the same people, Mummy and Daddy and Grandma.
“So I feel happy they’ve been able to have that kind of a life so far.”
The Grammy-award-winning singer, whose eponymous debut album reached number one in the UK in 2006 and peaked at number four in the US, understands that the kids won’t always be able to tour with her so much, and says: “Obviously, as they get older and school becomes more and more important, we just have to balance when we’re away or how long we’re away, or how much they come and how much they don’t. That’s just something we’re figuring out as we go along.”
Another thing that was figured out as it went along, with the help of the girls, was Bailey Rae’s new children’s book.
Although she started writing the book when her youngest girl was a baby and her sister was about two, “because all these ideas started coming in my head, and I had a lot of time on my hands because I was breastfeeding”, it took years to complete.
The book, inspired by Bailey Rae’s hit Put your Records On, tells the story of a little girl called Bea who visits her great aunt Portia’s house and is thrilled to listen to some of her aunt’s old records, which stir up a myriad of emotions in both of them.
“I wanted to write something about music and emotions and how there’s a song for every emotion you’ve ever experienced, the way songs can help you feel less alone in the world, and the way songs can hold you through your different emotional states and experiences, and how it’s important to feel those feelings,” explains Bailey Rae.
As the book came together, she read her daughters “loads of different versions”, and recalls: “When they yawned and were squirming around, I’d think, okay, there’s too much description here, let me just move this bit around. I wanted to make sure each of the pieces was exciting and interesting enough, and that there were enough pictures for the kids. So definitely, if they were really enjoying it, I’d think Oh yeah, I’m getting it right!
“So I guess I tested it on them a lot – it grew in the way that a lot of good stories do, just threading one bead onto the next and trial and error, and I like that It came about in that way.”
The singer, who married her children’s dad, musician and producer Steve Brown, in 2013, says whether there’ll be another children’s book depends on how well Put Your Records On is received, but she points out: “I like to tell stories, I did it a lot when the girls were really young, and I like to do it now and see if I can hold their attention or put them in the story somehow – I find it’s a good way to use my creative imagination.”
She says she’s coming into a “different phase” of motherhood now, and reflects: “The early years of motherhood are so all-encompassing, and they really affect how you sleep and where you go and what you do and even who you see. But I feel like I’m coming out of early motherhood now – no more breastfeeding, no more nappies.
“People say the days are long and the years are short, and I feel like I finally understand that. So it feels like it’s racing a bit now, and I’m making sure to be really present and just enjoy them and be able to hold them where they are, and also remember all the versions of them that go back into being a baby.
“But I’m really grateful to get to be a parent, and I’m enjoying it so far.”
She says the juggle between work and parenting can be tough, but stresses: “It’s the same for every parent, isn’t it?
“You’ve got to think how can you keep them safe and make them feel loved and give them the attention and the support they need, but how can you get enough support for yourself that you can be a useful parent, and then how can you fulfil yourself in terms of your work?
“It’s definitely been a real juggle for us.”
Put Your Records On by Corinne Bailey Rae is published by Fox and Ink Books, priced £8.99. Available now.