Florence Joelle

Biography:

Bred on jazz at home, and on the music of the Paris streets,the Gypsy art of Django Reinhardt,
bal musette, and North African rai, singer, songwriter, blues harmonica player Florence Joelle started collecting rock’n’roll, doo-wop, Latin jazz, and early blues as a girl. Her music draws from all these influences, carving out a unique sound that, although deeply rooted in the past, vibrates in the present

A twee retro singer she is not, though. Ever socially conscious, her songs depict what happens around her. The gritty ’29 Bus Blues’ tells of an assault witnessed on a London night bus, while ‘The God Of Things’,written during the riots of August 2011, warns of the materialistic world we live in. ‘How Many Chickens Are You Missing Today?’, a protest song composed on behalf of the thousands of Roma brutally and illegally expelled from France in 2010, was recently included on an compilation by Amnesty International.

Released in 2011, her first album, Kiss Of Fire, was described by the Arts Desk as ‘Smokin’, while Michael Dregni (author of the Django Reinhardt biographies) said in Vintage Guitar Magazine that she sings “rock ’n’ roll like Billie Holiday might, croons a torch ballad as Wanda Jackson may, and spices it all with a bit of Patti Smith attitude."

While paying homage to the past, Florence Joelle has carved out a unique sound that vibrates in the present.

Florence Joelle's new album, STEALING FLOWERS, is due out on Zoltan Records on 13 May 2013.