MUSICAL YOUTH: 'I'VE LEARNT FROM MY MUM THAT NOTHING COMES EASY'

WITH THE UPCOMING RELEASE OF HER DEBUT ALBUM, EMILIE CUNLIFFE EXPLAINS HOW SHE’S MORE THAN JUST KYM MARSH’S DAUGHTER

- RHIANNA BENSON

Meeting Emilie Cunliffe at our record store shoot in the heart of Manchester makes us wonder whether the singer-songwriter was born in the wrong decade. The 25-year-old looks as though she’s walked straight in from the music scene of 1970s Los Angeles, channelling the carefree aesthetic of Stevie Nicks. When we ask which record she’d like to play to set the mood of our shoot, she surprises us further by opting for Patsy Cline’s 1961 hit, I Fall To Pieces.

Emilie credits her upbringing for opening her eyes to the depth and breadth of the music industry. At the moment, she may be recognisable as the daughter of singer, actress and presenter Kym Marsh, but it’s clear when we catch up with her she hopes her debut album Stories will catapult her out of her mum’s shadow and earn her kudos as an artist in her own right.

“Some people are always going to say I’m only in the position I’m in because of who my mum is. They’ll have their opinions and I can’t change that, but I’d tell them to come and hear me sing or watch me perform and then make up their minds.”

Emilie admits, however, that it was Kym, 46, who encouraged her to take the ultimate leap into the music industry after she’d suffered a confidence knock when becoming a mother herself in 2019 at the age of 21.

Here, Emilie talks about how her son Teddy and fiancé Mikey Hoszowskyj spur her on and discusses the eclectic flavour of her music…

Hi, Emilie! Congratulations on the new album. How did it all come about?