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2008-11-27 06:44:56
By Michael Osborn
Entertainment reporter, BBC News
Singer, film actress and style icon Grace Jones still cuts a commanding
presence more than 30 years after she made her musical debut.
In a smart Italian restaurant close to her home in south-west London, the
Jamaican-born star is holding court while sipping on red wine and nibbling some
delicately-cut raw beef.
The meeting had been delayed by a fashionable two hours as the singer was
relaxing in the spa.
A luxuriant fur coat is draped over a nearby chair, while her sunglasses - it
is dark - and cigarettes are close by.
The remarkable-looking 60-year-old is recording a programme for a gay radio
station, making raucous jokes to the small gathering and cackling infectiously.
Jones purrs some safer sex messages into the microphone with her distinctive,
molasses-rich voice before dismissing the broadcasters and discussing her first
album in 20 years, Hurricane.
"I didn't decide to do an album - I'd decided never to do an album again. It
was an accident," she explains, not before offering a forkful of carpaccio.
"It's only because I love the record that I have the motivation," she adds of
the rounds of publicity that have come with the new release.
The one-time catwalk model and muse of Andy Warhol has developed a reputation
over the years for being a troublesome diva - but hints it is because she is a
perfectionist.
"I never do what anyone else is doing. I could walk away from music and become
a farmer or do some crochet. The worst thing in life for me is to do something
I'm not happy doing."
Eyeing Winehouse
Indeed, she claims to be the only artist to make record producers Sly and
Robbie record a song more than once.
"I just say that I'm not coming tomorrow," she says of her method of
persuasion.
Jones, who comes to the restaurant with just her make-up artist and a male
friend, says her new album was "a love affair with the music".
To complement the new release, the singer is going on tour next year, but says
her show will be far removed from her legendary spectacles involving caged
tigers, whips and scantily-clad male dancers.
"It will be focused on the music, so if a bomb were to drop, my voice can go on
and entertain.
"There will be some pizzazz, but not overwhelming. It will be rock 'n' roll -
with fashion, of course," says Jones, renowned for her outlandish dress sense.
"I'm going to learn to play some extra instruments, a bit of accordion, cowbell
and some percussion," she adds.
Jones, whose 1980s hits Slave To The Rhythm and Pull Up To The Bumper have
survived the test of time, admits to being a musical "loner".
But she has her sights set on a collaboration with Amy Winehouse, "the only
interesting new voice around".
Jones is unflapped by the troubled star's woes, having suffered her own
problems with addiction in the past.
Russell Harty moment
"Darling," she drawls, "We all have our ups and downs. She needs some advice
that's for her best interests rather than someone else's.
"I've been there. It's a rollercoaster life," she comments on the potential
pitfalls of fame.
"Right now my plate is very full. But she knows that I'm there for her and
would love to meet her."
The subject turns to reality television, and for a second there is fear of a
Russell Harty moment - Jones famously assaulted the chat show host on his
programme in 1981.
"I've turned down millions of dollars to go on reality TV. It's an absolute
no-go," she booms.
"There's nothing artistic or inspiring about any of those shows. How low does
the bar go? I have to set my own values and keep them, and I don't care what
anybody says."
But the mood soon softens as Jones is asked about the highlights of her
extraordinary career, and pays tribute to some of the formative figures in her
life.
"It was my vocal coach who said 'your voice is your voice, no-one else has it'.
That gave me the clarity not to compete with anyone," she explains.
After the conversation has ended and the singer is planning her appearance at a
party, I am called back, so she can tell me that the birth of her son was the
true highlight of her life.
When you are summoned by the inimitable Grace Jones, you respond.
Hurricane by Grace Jones is out now, and new single Williams' Blood is released
on 8 December. Her UK tour begins on 19 January in Birmingham.