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Mica Paris |
Mica Paris - The Anti-gun campaigner’s soul solutions
PREVIEW: MICA PARIS
Playground at Proud
MICA Paris: soul singer, teen star, mother-of-two, style guru, anti-gun campaigner and now air hostess – she’s a busy woman but, at 39, she’s no closer to slowing down.
Mica, who plays Proud next Friday, has just finished her fourth week of air steward exams as she trains for ITV’s new autumn reality show Celeb Air.
In the past 20 years Mica’s experienced what it feels like to be an overnight star with all the trappings, the breakdown of her relationship with her record company, and the fickle nature of a media who are camped out on her doorstep one day then indifferent the next.
Her new album attempts to document this: “The lyrical content explains what I’ve been through from being a child star at 17 – my first hit record (My One Temptation) came straight away at the top of the charts – the ups and downs. This business is not kind at the best of times, it can batter you. But I’ve managed to keep my optimism.”
Younger readers may recognise Mica as the former presenter of makeover show What Not To Wear, but singing is her first love.
She is looking forward to a new crowd: “I haven’t played Camden for a long time but I love the energy. It’s full of artists – probably the last place in London where you feel artists are free. The people just love music.”
Mica revels in her busy workload: “I’m doing it all, making album number seven, doing TV at the same time, I’ve just written a book – Beautiful Within, I’m a really busy bee. I’m a mum twice, one’s 17 and one’s two. I put my little girl to bed every night and weekends are precious. It’s a full job but when you enjoy something you don’t mind it.”
She has worked with some of the musical greats: “Prince was incredible. I was a really massive fan and when he asked to work with me I nearly collapsed. I’ve worked with Bobby Womak, Chaka Khan, it was fantastic, like being a kid in a sweetshop.“
In 2001 her brother Jason Phillips was shot dead, prompting her to become an active anti-gun campaigner.
She said: “I’m about to do a TV show about it. It’s about bringing awareness and it’s not easy. They need to be talking in schools. Anything artistic helps us express what’s going on. Artists are going to be the future of changing the world. We’ve seen it with Bono, Bob Geldof. It will be us because people are still cynical about politicians.”
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