With her piercingly expressive voice, ruby lips, blonde locks and trademark sassy strut in the best Italian shoes available, British nu-soul singer/songwriter Alice Russell is due to strike Sydney Festival with her Alice Russell Live experience. She’s come a long way from her childhood in Suffolk when Minnie Ripperton, Stevie Wonder and Chaka Khan played on her parents’ turntables, to reach the golden beaches and sizzling heat of Sydney. With her own label, a collection of amazing albums and a glittering schedule of international tours to her name, somehow, Alice has managed to keep her head – and her voice – intact.

Perhaps it’s her nod to the good things in life. “Food. Sex. Music. We need them to live,” Alice proclaims grandly in her enchanting, posh voice. Abiding by these avowals seems to have done this little poppet the world of good, as she flits across the world from San Francisco, New York, Montreal, Marseilles, Greece, Spain or New Zealand, to week long pit stops at her home in Brighton or quick steps through studios to work with her musical mentor and producer TM Juke and a myriad of reputed musicians. The one thing about Alice Russell for sure: She gets on with it with plenty of raw energy behind her.

I first saw Alice Russell perform at Brisbane’s The Healer with The Quantic Soul Orchestra in 2006. While the Quantic Soul Orchestra were undoubtedly amazing musicians, it was Alice Russell in her bright red shoes, matching lipstick and incredibly vivacious tones that captured the entire audience. To stand before Alice Russell on the stage is to be seized body, mind and soul. Her voice is pure magic and her onstage persona really hits home that this singer/songwriter is someone special. With a blues holler, a poignant melody or gutsy bawls, Alice Russell stands out because she combines every genre in her background – jazz, funk, soul, latin, classical, gospel and dance – and delivers it with raw power and polish. For Alice, music has no boundaries. “Every genre of music should be mish mashed up,” she proclaims. “All the music I’ve listened to comes from everywhere.”

Growing up with a father as an organist, Alice sang her way through various choirs and recitals, finding her career path as a singer to be the likely choice. “I don’t find singing hard,” she laughs. “In fact, it’s quite natural. Sure it’s a different thing to most people. And some people who do it, are doing it for different reasons. I certainly don’t do it for the money,” she laughs again, explaining all the while that she is wrapped in blankets against Brighton’s cold and hasn’t had the chance to pay the electricity bill since she just got home from touring two days previously. “I do it for love and I believe in sharing some of that love,” Alice affirms. So it would seem from many of her self-penned lyrics, including Humankind. “Come lets create a new humankind, Can you tugg my hair and slap my behind, I’m a whole lot of woman I want to recline.” That wit and sass is as integral to Alice Russell as her vocation on the vocals. “I’m so used to giving everything on stage,” she claims “you start to have outer body experiences. People do things that can be soul destroying, but like everything in life, you can have good and bad. It comes and goes. I’m raw. I’m honest. I get on with it.”

With her albums My Favourite Letters and Under the Munka Moon released on the Tru Thoughts label and the recent release of Pot of Gold on her own My Little Poppet label, Alice has no trouble putting her thoughts to music, especially finding other musicians particularly inspiring. “It comes naturally,” she affirms on her writing and music style, “but it depends on who I’m working with. Often, I get sent the music, so I just go with the flow. I dig great songs,” she points out. “I am inspired by any piece of art – including books or film – that inspires your mind and gets ideas going. Like recently, I’ve been listening to Steve Gadd’s drum beat from [Paul Simon’s] Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover – and that makes me wanna do good things!” As she is home for a week after a massive tour with her band that took them across to the States and back, Alice is determined to make the most of that time and “get some writing done. As a band we tour a lot,” Alice notes. “We go to some lovely places in a van, doing the things we love.”

Having worked regularly with long time friend, producer and mentor TM Juke on the Tru Thoughts label, Alice says that when they are working together “we try anything. We tend to feel our way through thoughts.” With TM Juke also famed for his experimentation in blending funk, soul, hip hop and jazz, Alice and TM Juke come together as a meeting of the minds. Recently, Alice has also worked with Mr Scuff with the release Music Take Me Up. Says of her experience with Mr Scruff in the studio, “working with Mr Scruff was brilliant! He’s an old friend and we couldn’t believe we hadn’t done a song together before!” Reflecting on the current music industry, Alison is quite excited at the prospects for her musical future. “I think it’s changing a lot,” she states. “It’s quite overwhelming really. Everything is so immediate, and now. You can go to my myspace page and leave me a message – it’s revolutionary! But you can have such a short concentration span though. Like ‘I want that song in my Ipod now.’ It’s so nice to listen to vinyl. But, the Internet is brilliant for an indie artist. It’s a direct connection with your audience. Power back to the people and the music!” Alice concludes

And powering to Sydney, Alice Russell Live will be featuring in the Becks Tent with her 6 piece band for the Sydney Festival. She promises to perform snippets from her albums as well a load of great soul tunes with a bunch of prime musicians. “I’m looking forward to working with the band,” Alice proclaims “It will be good raw energy!”

Catch Alice Russell at the following shows…

Thurs Jan 29th -Beck’s Festival Bar, Sydney
Thurs Feb 5th – SoCo, Mebourne
Fri Feb 6th- Playground Weekender, Sydney
Sat Feb 7th – The Bakery, Perth