BL-24 - Flipbook - Page 121
C U LT U R E & A RT S
By Mica Paris
Michelle Antoinette Wallen MBE (known
professionally as Mica Paris) award-winning
English singer, presenter and actress.
F
rom church pews in South London to singing
with Prince, hosting shows on BBC radio,
and launching a fashion line... I’ve lived a life
in music. It’s been wild, soulful, sometimes
surreal. But more than anything, it’s been mine.
The 昀椀rst time I really felt music, not just heard it, I was
about seven or eight. I’d come home from school, race
round to my aunt’s house, and sneak into her front room.
Now, in Jamaican culture, the front room was sacred.
Immaculate. Always cleaned and untouched, strictly for
guests. You weren’t allowed in there.
But that’s where the records lived: those glorious gospel
vinyls, imported from America.
So I’d sneak in, put on the Edwin Hawkins Singers’ Oh
Happy Day and just… listen. Study. Mimic. I was obsessed.
I knew every note, every key, who played what. I had
perfect pitch even as a child. That’s where it all started.
My grandparents were Pentecostal ministers, and our
church was my 昀椀rst stage. Every Sunday, they’d get me
up to sing — and the congregation would go mad. By 11,
I’d won my 昀椀rst award at Wembley Stadium, singing for
the national Pentecostal convention. Can you imagine?
Wembley at 11! My grandmother basically became my
agent after that, dragging me all over the UK and Scotland,
singing in every denomination you can name.
That voice – my voice – was a gift. But it wasn’t just a
gift. It was a calling. I was constantly learning. Constantly
absorbing. I wasn’t just singing gospel. I was listening
to jazz, soul, funk... the real stuff, from the States. That
became my secret education.
Mica Paris on the set of BBC’s Eastenders
Everything exploded. One minute I was in South London,
the next I was on Letterman, 昀氀ying Concorde, doing three
TV shows a day. It happened that fast.
My One Temptation took off, and suddenly I was a fashion
reference. I’ll never forget the out昀椀t I wore in the video — a
sleek little suit with buttons down the sides. The moment
I got my 昀椀rst pay cheque, I ran to Carnaby Street and
bought it for myself. That was the 昀椀rst of many full-circle
moments.
The First Wave
The Gospel According to Prince (and Chaka)
I joined a little gospel group called The Spirit of Us when I
was barely in my teens. I was the baby — the lead singer,
though. Eventually, a label came snif昀椀ng around, but they
only wanted me. That led to me singing backing vocals for
Hollywood Beyond — they had a huge hit with The Colour
of Money — and then, at 17, I got a call from Julian Palmer
at Island Records.
What followed was a wave — six years of hits,
collaborations, travelling, creating, learning. I worked with
Prince. Prince. He wrote If I Love U 2Nite for me. Brought
me on stage with him in Camden just six months before he
passed. That was the 昀椀rst venue he ever took me to. Again,
full circle. Magic.
He saw something in me. He signed me. We made my 昀椀rst
album together — and here we are, all these years later,
working together again. Life really does come full circle.
When So Good dropped, I was just 18. It went platinum.
Natalie Cole was another huge force in my life. She
should’ve been a teacher: she was so wise, so kind. She put
me on the bill at the Nelson Mandela concert at Wembley.
She was a friend and a real mentor.
121
BOISDALELIFE.COM
ISSUE 24
