| GiRTh |
05-11-2010 08:54 PM |
Cheryl's NOT useless and I'm NOT a nutcase:
Quote:
As comebacks go it was a bit of a disaster.
Singer Jay Kay had hoped that by appearing on Sunday’s X Factor he would show ten million viewers that The Cat In The Hat was back, and also give his new album a timely boost.
Some hope.
Instead of a rapturous reception for new single White Knuckle Ride, the Jamiroquai frontman, out of the public eye for the past four years, found himself being cold-shouldered by judges Cheryl Cole and Dannii Minogue, who were furious at insulting *comments he had made about them.
According to a tabloid newspaper, Kay had called Dannii and Cheryl ‘****ing useless’ and ‘****ing amateurs’.
His X Factor appearance proved to be payback time, as the girls chatted to each other while he sang and then pointedly refused to applaud him afterwards, leaving a bemused-looking Simon Cowell to clap alone.
Despite apologising and sending flowers, Kay was embarrassed by the incident, even though his friends claim the quotes were old and out of context, adding he also received a message that his apology had been accepted.
Ignoring the handbags, the episode served to emphasise the yawning gap between the weekend pantomime of shows such as The X *Factor and ‘real’ musicians who have paid their dues by writing songs and playing live.
With Elton John and Damon Albarn *joining a growing chorus of disapproval, Jay Kay isn’t alone in criticising the show this autumn.
The lewd nature of his barbs aside, the most striking thing about his observations was that they were made prior to an X Factor guest spot he claims to have enjoyed.
‘I had *reservations,’ he told host *Dermot O’Leary.
‘But I’ve had a wonderful day.’
Away from the cameras, the singer remains resolutely old-school.
‘Music should have a *flavour to it and I don’t think a lot of what’s going on today has that,’ he says, choosing his words carefully.
‘I listened to the top five songs recently and they did nothing for me.’
It was the same sense of disillusion that led him to announce he was quitting music four years ago. After selling 25 million albums, cracking the U.S. and accumulating a fortune of £35 million, he was ‘fizzled out’.
Success had come at a cost. His three-year relationship with TV presenter Denise Van Outen ended in 2001, while he had also battled a cocaine problem. After 14 years, he felt ready to ‘draw a line in the sand’ with 2006’s hits collection, High Times.
‘I was finding the job unfulfilling,’ he says.
‘I was tired of going onto kids’ TV *programmes to promote myself. We’re a proper, jamming band. That’s why we’re called Jam-iroquai!’
So, what has prompted his change of heart? The time away helped, as did a change of record label, from Sony Music to *Mercury. Yet ultimately it was the 40-year-old’s love of jazz and funk that tempted him back.
This week sees the release of Rock Dust Light Star, Jamiroquai’s first studio album since 2005’s Dynamite. A back-to-basics affair, it shuns fashionable electronic arrangements in favour of a funky, freewheeling spirit. On course for the top five, it is also a reminder of Kay’s stature with George Michael and Mick Hucknall as one of our best white soul singers.
‘This is in my blood,’ he says.
‘Money doesn’t come into it. I get a buzz from writing songs.’
We are sitting in Kay’s personal bar, The Chequered Flag, on his 80-acre country estate in Buckinghamshire. Surrounding us are the *elaborate spoils of *success. Vintage cars are parked in the gravel courtyard outside.
Behind us is an apple orchard. Adrenaline junkie Kay used his time away from music in a novel way. Having kicked his cocaine habit, he needed ‘something to replace the drugs’. So he became a qualified helicopter pilot.
‘It was a way of exercising a different part of my brain,’ he says.
Kay had stopped taking drugs after his mother, Seventies big band singer Karen Kay, warned him he stood to lose everything if he continued to be ruled by his demons. Jay agreed, although he maintains the popular image of him as a rock ’n’ roll daredevil was wide of the mark.
‘People think I’m a nutcase, but I’m actually quite considered,’ he says. ‘I certainly won’t take any risks in a helicopter. Once, in Spain, I put the radio on during a flight.
The first song to come on was Chris Rea’s The Road To Hell. I took that as a sign and turned it off.’ He adds that giving up cocaine was easier than he thought. ‘The first two or three weeks were hard. But I never went into rehab. I associated the drug with going to nightclubs, so I just stopped going out.’
Kay refuses to be drawn on whether his drug problem *contributed to the end of his romance with former fiancée Van Outen, who has since married — and had a child with — actor Lee Mead. But a track on the new album, Goodbye To My Dancer, will lead to further speculation.
‘That song is not entirely about the woman you imagine it is,’ he says, a tad unconvincingly.
‘It’s based on someone I know, but the lyrics have been switched around. It’s about a girl I used to go out with, who then got *married. It’s a bit cheeky.’
Jay is now on good terms with Denise: ‘I’m very pleased for The Ex. She’s got a baby, which is what she always wanted. I don’t think there was bitterness around the split, but I can’t say it was pleasurable. I’d be queuing up to pay for petrol and every magazine in the rack would have the same story on the cover: “My terrible time with Jay!” ’
So, what of his current romantic status?
‘I’m not with anyone at the moment,’ he says. ‘It’s difficult with this job. It scares a lot of young ladies away, as they could be alone for long periods.
‘But I’m 40, and it’s starting to affect me. My mother and father were adopted, and I had an *identical twin who didn’t make it, so I need to hand this on
to someone.
‘Nothing would please me more than having a son or daughter, out there in one of the cars, and me saying: “Now, let’s see what your left-foot braking’s like!” ’
n Rock Dust Light Star is out now on Mercury Records.
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