This summer Dutch singer Caro Emerald brings her retro sound and style to Hampton Court Palace. Rosanna Greenstreet tunes in...
We are in for a treat next month when Dutch singer, Caro Emerald brings her speakeasy style and seven-piece band to the Hampton Court Palace Music Festival. Caro has been a firm fixture on the European circuit since the release of her 2010 multi-platinum debut album Deleted Scenes from the Cutting Room Floor. Yet her sound is hard to categorise – not least for the singer herself.
“I always find it very tricky,” she says in near impeccable English, speaking from her home in Amsterdam. “I work with two partners who produce the music and they describe it differently than I would. I say it’s pop music based on beats, but we also borrow from other genres, so there’s swing jazz and Latin and ballroom sounds too.”
Despite this lack of a definitive description, Caro’s vocals – trained at the outstanding Conservatory of Amsterdam – have yielded more than 2.5 million record sales, sold-out tours and festival performances and a whole host of prizes, including Best International Newcomer at the Echo Awards in 2012.
Daughter of a philosophy professor father and university secretary mother, the young Caro had a happy upbringing in the Dutch capital.
“I have good memories from those times. I was a bit of a rebel and my friends were as well,” she recalls. “I looked a bit gothic; I would hang around in the park and smoke weed. Later I became more serious. I always knew that I wanted to be a singer but, as I turned 18, I wanted to be realistic too.
“I thought that I would make music and do law at the same time, so I could make money. I thought – wrongly as it happens – that you can’t make money in music. So I started studying law and then realised that I wasn’t somebody who liked to study all day long. I then got into the Conservatory and the rest is history.”
It was in 2007 that Caro, who counts her influences as Aretha Franklin, Dusty Springfield, Billie Holiday, Shirley Bassey and Amy Winehouse, was asked to make a demo for Dutch producers Jan van Wieringen and David Schreurs. The result was Back It Up; and when, a year later, she performed the song on Dutch TV, viewers clamoured to know where they could buy her music.
As well as Back It Up, the team had enough original material for an album, inspired by films and music from the 40s and 50s. Deleted Scenes from the Cutting Room Floor was born. There was only one problem: they couldn’t find a suitable record company.
“We just couldn’t get a good deal. So Jan and David, who are smart guys, finally said: ‘How hard can it be to release a record? We will do it ourselves.’ And we did.”
Released on their homegrown label Grandmono Records, Back It Up became an instant radio hit in July 2009, while the follow-up, A Night Like This, reached number one in Caro’s homeland in January 2010. That same week, Deleted Scenes From The Cutting Room Floor entered the Dutch album charts at the top spot, where it spent 30 weeks to break a record set by Michael Jackson’s Thriller. In the UK, the album stalled at number four. As Emerald recalls, however, the competition was particularly stiff.
“I was in the top five with Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Adele and Amy Winehouse. So that was crazy.”
Since then Grandmono Records has gone from strength to strength – a second album, The Shocking Miss Emerald, went straight to No 1 in the UK – not least because the team is able to maintain its creative vision without interference from music business executives.
“If you have a record deal, you have to give a lot of money to the record company. This way we got to keep all of our money and control,” says Emerald. Also integral to the team’s success is Caro’s retro image, the result of her collaboration with stylist Renske Cramer.
“She understands that I need to feel good in clothing. As I am not a sample size, I don’t get to borrow stuff [from designers]. So we have to be creative, which has turned out to be fun.”
It is perhaps a surprise, therefore, to hear that Caro shops on the high street.
“Not everything I wear is vintage or old-fashioned. I collect cool pieces that I find in magazines and try to mix it as much as possible. For instance, last tour I wore sneakers, as I like to create contrasts.”
When she is on the road, Caro often has one of her small daughters in tow. “Not both of them – that would be too much – but I have the luxury of being able to travel with a couple of buses, so there is room to have a kid with me and enough budget to bring people to take care of her. I feel lucky because I can give my daughters an experience that not a lot of kids have. When they are grown up, they will be able to say: ‘I was on tour with mummy.’ That, to me, sounds cool.”
As with most singers, Caro’s on-tour preoccupation is preserving her voice. In the past she has suffered a polyp on the vocal cords, and experience has taught her what helps and what doesn’t.
“Foods that make you burp, like garlic and chilli, are not a good idea right before a show. What is good for the throat is chewing fresh ginger and drinking water and herbal tea – I like verbena.”
Caro has performed at the Royal Albert Hall, for Quincy Jones’s 85th birthday and at Glastonbury in 2014. What has been her career highlight?
“I have had this question a lot,” she laughs. “And every time it hurts a little to answer, because naming one moment means leaving all the other moments behind! That said, I choose Glastonbury because, to me, that is the ultimate acknowledgement of all that I’ve achieved. I was on the main stage at Glastonbury where Beyoncé has been!”
At Hampton Court, Caro Emerald and the Grandmono Orchestra will be part of a star-studded festival line-up which includes Kylie and Nile Rodgers. When we talk, Caro has yet to nail down the format for the show, but it will definitely have the flavour of the latest tour.
“We bring people to a fictional South American city. During the day you can stroll around, but after dark there’s a sweaty little jazz club with a band and you get to dance the whole night long.” Can’t wait.
Caro Emerald performs on June 12. For tickets go to hamptoncourtpalacefestival.com
