@londonbeautifullife had the pleasure of speaking to Ex-Royal Navy turned Opera singer Jamie Lonsdale as he showcases his brand new Album 'FOOTPRINTS'. @londonbeautifullife was extremely excited to get the lowdown on the album and to learn more about how he has transition from Navy to getting an album in the charts with outstanding collaborations. As well as hearing about his battle of Coronavirus and the love of music from Princess Margaret.
@jamielonsdale1
READ BELOW FOR THE INTERVIEW.
@londonbeautifullife - "How is your lockdown going and promoting the album at the same time?"
Jamie Lonsdale - "You can imagine it's been quite a challenging time, launching an album during the middle of lockdown. We decided to press ahead, as you can imagine with lockdown and creating an album it is really two years work. I called the album 'FOOTPRINTS' because the one thing we leave behind which we are really blessed for is children. The lasting thing we can leave behind is works of arts. I wanted to leave behind my songs, so they are always there as a footprint as evidence of my existence. Hense I called it 'FOOTPRINTS' and given the uncertainty of when I caught the Coronavirus nobody quite knew how serious it would be, with me I was fortunate it wasn't super serious and did not hospitalise me. I was so glad to know that my Footprints were going to be going up there on the 10th of April. Of course it has been havoc with the marketing, things are not going to plan".
@londonbeautifullife - "Tell me about your new album FOOTPRINTS".
Jamie Lonsdale - "FOOTPRINTS, I never imagined I would be writing songs. At the age of 38 I asked my neighbour would she consider teaching me. From that point I started to train as an Opera singer. I spent several years performing at opera's particularly Grange Park opera".
Jamie Lonsdale - "Five years ago I was shaving one day when a song, it wasn't even a song, a line, I thought gosh I've got a nice line to sing and I switched on my iPhone and much to my surprise it continued and with the melody came the lyrics and after five minutes I switched off my iPhone and I sent it to Robert, my music director and said whose song is this. He said Jamie it's your song and no one else's. And once more when you have written ten songs we will do an album. I said Robert I am a one song wonder".
@jamielonsdale1
@londonbeautifullife - "What was your inspiration behind your new record?"
Jamie Lonsdale - "Well the album consists of 13 new songs. I have to ay I love to sing romantic songs. I am most moved by singing beautiful sad songs. y sister Joanna challenged me saying Jamie I want some happy songs. So this album is a mixture of Jazz, Religious songs, Heartbreak songs and also has some love songs. Something for everyone's mood".
@londonbeautifullife - "Footprints has some great collaborations on the album. How did they come about?"
Jamie Lonsdale - "Previously all the songs I have written are on my own, in my own bubble. Mary-Jess had written such a beautiful duet which we had performed in many concerts. I was challenged, because she written such a beautiful duet to write a duet for her. I wrote a song about a dying father and loving daughter and that went on my first album which is called ‘A Journey’".
@jamielonsdale1
Jamie Lonsdale - "This time we challenged each other and said let’s collaborate together. She said she would bring a clever Jazz pianist called John Butler. [All three] met in my home and it was quite extraordinary and how the magic started and out of that came my favourite song Alleluia. A couple of weeks on YouTube we had over 20 thousand views. We struck a cord with that one, you never really know which song will touch people. I write from my heart. Mary-Jess does the same and with John Butler’s excellent chords we produced Alleluia”.
Jamie Lonsdale – “Hearing our music for the first time in Angels Recording Studio with 55 members of the orchestra and the music came alive and that was one of the most exciting moments of my life”.
@londonbeautifullife – “What is your favourite track on your new album Footprints?”
Jamie Lonsdale – “That is very difficult. I think for me, the one I enjoy singing the most is called ‘My Fault?’ My fault question mark. It is quite a short song, fairly jazzy and a surprising ending. I’m not going to spoil the ending but it is a bit of a surprise. I think it has twice as many views on Instagram, now whether that means anything, I wouldn’t be surprise if that turns out to be rather popular”.
Jamie with Katherine Jenkins - @jamielonsdale1
@londonbeautiful “What influenced you to pursue a career as an Opera Singer?”
Jamie Lonsdale – “When I was six years old, or should I say I was actually almost born in a recording studio. My mother was a record producer her name was Fiona Bentley. My mother was like the Simon Cowell of the 1950s. She was a young theatre producer and whilst she was not a professional musician, she was incredibly creative. She would come up with extraordinary ideas which nobody else would of thought off and she would take young performers straight out of Royal College of Music and the Royal Academy and would record them for the first time".
Jamie Lonsdale – “Putting magic together and with my father Norman Lonsdale formed the World Record Club. They had 2000 members within the first week, they were undercutting the big record companies and they were making music affordable. The day of my birth, not sure what she was recording, she had the musical rights to Beatrix Potter. My mother hadn’t finished the recording when her waters burst. She managed to finish the recording, jumped in a black cab which took her down Bond Street to the London Clinic and I was practically born on the way. That was quite a musical start”.
@londonbeautifullife – “What was it like to have your parents run the World Record Club?”
Jamie Lonsdale – “My sisters and I it was always our greatest treat to be taken to the theatre by my mother. It was age 6 I was taken by my neighbours to a pantomime and they asked any child like to come on stage and sing the next song. I remember frantically putting my hands in the air. It was that moment I knew that was what I wanted to do”.
@jamielonsdale1
@londonbeautifullife – “What was your inspiration in joining the Royal Navy and has your music got any military influence?”
Jamie Lonsdale – “My parents were so busy working 18-hour days that they didn’t always have time to be there for the children. My grandmother only had one child my father so when she became a grandmother, she was keen to grab us whenever she could. I found myself in the countryside in my family home with my grandmother and at the age of six she was telling me I was going to be joining the Grenadier Guards in true family tradition”.
Jamie Lonsdale – “The Duke of Wellington had been my five times great uncle. I had this pressure to join the Grenadier with nowadays with my children they decide what they want to do. My way of rebellion is to say actually I won’t join the Grenadier’s but I will join the Navy. I hadn’t quite realised how upset they were until my passing out parade at Dartmouth. In Dartmouth the Queen was taking the parade. My grandfather came up behind me and tapped me in the back and said I forgive you and I turned round thinking he was joking but he was completely furious. But took him as a Grenadier to see the Navy could march”.
@londonbeautifullife – “With Princess Diana, The Queen Mother and Princess Margaret at your wedding, has any Royal influence gone into your new album ‘Footprints’ and had a part to play within your passion of music?”
Jamie Lonsdale – “I am very grateful to Princess Margaret, she lived for music and ballet. She would like to be entertained after dinner. My father would organise four musical guests to play the piano and sing. For me I found myself singing in the choruses around the piano. I realised what a huge pleasure it was to entertain guests at a dinner”.
@londonbeautifullife – “What are your favourite spots in London?”
@royalalberthall
Jamie Lonsdale – “I am a Chelsea boy, I was born and raised in Chelsea Square. At the moment I have moved from the countryside to Pimlico, I enjoy it is very central. Everything is within a 30-minute walk. I love the theatre and particularly like musicals. I spend a lot of the time going to the theatre. I love the Opera; I try to go to the Coliseum and I love the Royal Opera House.”
@londonbeautifullife – “Our favourite spot is in Chelsea and it is Raffles on the King’s Road”.
Jamie Lonsdale – “It is funny you say that, my father co-founded Raffles”.
@londonbeautifullife – “No way, that’s insane!”
@raffleschelsea
Jamie Lonsdale – “A friend of his started it and he had failed to get enough members, it went into liquidation immediately so my father bought it from his friend. He thought how do I persuade my friends to become members. People have a good time when they have Champagne. Annabel’s [Mayfair], the competition at the time was charging £5 a bottle for champagne in the 60s. So my father took the decision he would charge £2 a bottle for champagne. And then the membership was full”.
@londonbeautifullife – “To end the interview, the album is out now, have we got anything to look forward to from the album?”
Jamie Lonsdale – “Sadly we had to cancel our launch party in London’s newest theatre, that was going to be in May but we are going to reschedule for an early date in September assuming life has gone to normal. I also have a music video out now with the Chivenor Military Ladies Choir and the song is called Circles”.
@jamielonsdale1
The album is out now and available to stream and buy from all major services.
LINKS
Jamie Lonsdale Instagram - @jamielonsdale1
Jamie Lonsdale YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrGEpuAWX0dYHZBr3DOuWgw/featured
Jamie Lonsdale Twitter - @lonsdalejamie
Jamie Lonsdale Website - www.jamie-lonsdale.com
Borne Media - www.bornemedia.co.uk / @weareborne