Review - Sunday Post August 12th 2001

NERINA WENT FROM BACH TO BON JOVI
By Kevin Bridges

Female singer-songwriters are all the rage once again and the latest to get the industry excited is Nerina Pallot.

Her single Patience has just been released and her album Dear Frustrated Superstar comes out on August 20.

Nerina counts the likes of Joni Mitchell and Rickie Lee Jones among her inspirations, but for a long time it seemed a career in classical music would be her future after her parents acquired a piano for her when she was four.

Prima Donna
"I started playing it as soon as it was delivered. People thought I was too young to have piano lessons, but I pleaded long enough," she told me.

"My mum says I was a bit of a prima donna then. Apparently I threw a tantrum when the Middle C on my piano at home didn't sound the same as that on my teacher's!" she laughed.

Nerina's musical tastes didn't go down too well with all her family though. "I remember putting a tape of a Mahler symphony on the car stereo when I was 12 and my mum just saying 'Can't we have something on with a tune?' "

The next massive change in her musical life came when a friend introduced her to the delights of hard rock.

"I was a bit of a social retard and thought classical music was the be-all and end-all, so this friend called Elvira played me the album Slippery When Wet by Bon Jovi and lost of others by Whitesnake and Foreigner.

"She also persuaded me to dress up in white lacy gloves like Madonna. Despite her taste for rock Elvira also played the viola, so I saw it was possible to combine a love for classical music with one for rock."

Deal
However Nerina's rock education was hampered by the fact that the family lived on Jersey.

"We didn't get many bands playing there that's for sure, but I do remember going to see A-ha play at some TV special."

Nerina decided a career as a singer-songwriter was what she really wanted, whatever it took.

"I tried everything to get a record deal, but it was a real slog. In the meantime I was doing all sorts of other jobs - nannying, cleaning, making curtains, you name it - but I never really gave up hope."

Eventually she knew she'd have to get a full-time job... and ended up in the publishing department of a record company!

"I was a bit sick of the whole business, as I'd had a development deal with EMI - who paid for me to make some demos, but they wanted me to be the next Beverley Craven."

So Nerina and EMI parted and she got a new deal with Polydor. Now she's finally got to the stage of having an album ready for release she's justifiably thrilled.

"It's 100 per cent who I am and I want people to love it," she told me. "I want them to feel the way I do when I hear one of my favourite songs."

A track that stands out is Watch Out Billie which Nerina admits is about Billie Piper.

"I wrote it three years ago when I first saw her on TV. I thought she was so young and wondered what would happen to her.

"It's a cautionary tale about having your 15 minutes of fame, but I didn't know when I recorded it how cautionary it was going to turn out to be!"

With that in mind, Nerina is wary of the whole fame and celebrity game.

"I'm curious about what it could be like, but it shouldn't be your reason for living. Not many people apart from Madonna seem to do it well."

If the word on the music bizz grapevine is anything to go by, Nerina should get a chance to see how well she copes with that kind of fame before too long.