JOAN ARMATRADING

She’s the Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter whose observational songs have struck a chord since ’72. Now, as Joan Armatrading releases her 22nd studio album, Consequences, she tells us about pawn-shop guitars, disapproving parents and why human emotion still drives her songwriting

- Jamie Dickson and Henry Yates

Out Of Reach

“My father played the guitar, but he wouldn’t let me touch his. I think, because of that, I wanted to play it even more. That was the impetus, really: what is it about this thing that means I’ve got to stay away from it? I found my first guitar in a pawn shop. It cost three pounds and I said to my mum, ‘Can I have it?’ She said, ‘Well, we haven’t got the money, but if they’ll swap these two prams for it, you can have it’. I’ve still got that guitar. It’s a big-bodied, no-name guitar and I just started learning on that. And I’ll tell you something else. My father used to hide his guitar on the top shelf down in the cellar, which had a really heavy iron door on it, like one of those doors you see on great big bank safes. When we moved, he left his guitar there. He forgot it!”

Ain’t Nobody

“From there, I just started writing my own songs, either on the guitar or on the piano that my mother bought for the front room, which was a great piece of furniture. Everything I did back then was self-taught. I wasn’t buying any records and I wasn’t going to any gigs. So there wasn’t an ‘anybody’ playing the guitar to influence me – apart from my father, who didn’t want me to play it! Later on, once I’d got into the guitar, then there were so many guitarists that I think are fantastic. I think Mark Knopfler is one of the best guitarists ever. I love Leslie West. Jimmy Page is great. You know, there are so many great guitarists – but none of them started me off. I just did my own thing and came to those guitarists much, much later.”

Stepping Out