Michael’s the sound of 2012 (From The Northern Echo)

Michael’s the sound of 2012

5:10pm Thursday 2nd February 2012 in Entertainment

Michael Kiwanuka topped the BBC Sound Of 2012 poll. Andy Welch discovers how the softly spoken singer-songwriter’s life is all set to change.

Just over a year ago, 24-year-old Michael Kiwanuka was performing with various grime artists around the city and studying music at college, dreaming of of guitar-playing turning into a full-time teaching job, or session work for other artists.

“I just didn’t see how it could happen, me becoming a singer-songwriter.

I didn’t know people, or meet the right people at gigs. Being an artist on my own wasn’t something I knew about, and I thought it was too difficult for someone like me,” he says.

“I was OK with all the grime gigs I was playing, even though it wasn’t the music I was into. I think being a young black guy from London, people just expected me to be involved with that music.

“But, you know, I loved the gigs and I had to make money,” he adds.

By 2012, however, things had drastically changed for Kiwanuka, the son of Ugandan parents, who grew up in a well-to-do area of north-west London.

Throughout 2011, the likes of Lauren Laverne at BBC 6Music, XFM and Radio 2 got behind his sepia-tinged, soul-inspired music and, last month, he won the Sound Of 2012 contest, the BBC’s annual poll to find the new artists most likely to succeed in the coming 12 months.

Jessie J, Ellie Goulding, 50 Cent, Keane and Mika have all topped the list in the past, while a certain Adele won in 2008.

“Things have changed since that announcement,” he says, smiling.

“People at recording studios are a lot nicer to me, for a start. Some people have recognised me in the street and that’s never happened before.”

He feels the shift came after he appeared on Later... With Jools Holland last year, when his gentle performance of I’m Getting Ready won an army of new followers. The turning point came while supporting Adele on her tour last spring.

“I’d never done more than three gigs one after another before that tour,” he explains. “I really had to dig in for people to notice me. I knew I had to get past the power of her songs for anyone to remember me.

“When I got back and started playing my own solo shows again in London, I didn’t notice the difference, but other people were saying how much more confident I was on stage… and things got better and better.” Musically, it’s easy to draw comparisons between Kiwanuka and Bill Withers, one of his heroes. The way the chords of I’ll Get Along bounce along, for example, definitely call to mind the Ain’t No Sunshine singer. Kiwanuka even covers Withers’s I Don’t Know in his live set.

There are also clear nods to Marvin Gaye, particularly his anti-Vietnam War masterpiece What’s Going On.

“The first music I really heard will have been Abba and Neil Diamond, or whatever my mum was listening to on Radio 2,” he says, laughing.

But there’s no sign of such influence on Home Again, his forthcoming debut due for release in March.

“Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right by Bob Dylan is the first song that made me want to be a musician,” he says. “I might not sound like Dylan, but as soon as I heard that, I switched from electric to acoustic guitar, and really started thinking about the structure of my songs. “(Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay by Otis Redding was another big song for me, and Luv N’ Haight by Sly & The Family Stone.

I’d never heard soul singing like that before. It completely blew me away, so I was desperate to check out more.”

Home Again is now finished, the result of many visits to Paul Butler of The Bees’ studio on the Isle Of Wight.

“The live show has to be good, and the album is done now, so I just have to hope people love it as much as I do.

“I feel really lucky. I’m in a good place, happy with my new band and excited to keep on going. Winning the Sound Of 2012 hasn’t added any pressure, really, although more people have definitely heard of me now.

“The biggest thing about the win was that I got to go on BBC Breakfast that morning and my name was trending on Twitter.

“That’s easily the most surreal morning of my life.”

TOUR DATE: February 23: Newcastle, The Cluny