Hannah Williams has hazel eyes but she is the maximum incarnation today of what the English call the “blue-eyed soul”. A tornado of groove that obviously did not leave the jury of The Voice, Tom Jones, insensitive when Hannah Williams presented herself in 2021 to the blind auditions. She didn’t win, but that’s okay.
Because Hannah Williams and her Affirmations are already one of the most formidable jewels that English soul music has known since Amy Winehouse or Adele. That’s the level of this singer, barely forty years old, who came to music via the choir of her father’s church, a pastor. But at home, we also listen to secular music, the best, Bill Withers or Aretha Franklin.
Naturally Hannah Williams turned to music. She teaches it, she composes and she sings. Her first album “A hill of feathers”, was released in 2012. A pure block of soul, hailed by the impeccable empress of funk Sharon Jones.
The worldwide hit comes in 2016, when the boss Jay-Z listens to “Late Nights and Heartbreak”, a moving ballad of Hannah Williams that he will sample over time. The singer then surrounds herself with the best musicians and producers to create the group “Hannah Williams and the Affirmations”, she is keen on the collective, and the combination of talents. The result is called “50 foot woman” (in French, la femme de 15 mètres) and is released in 2019. And of course recorded in analog, to preserve the authenticity of the sound. A sincerity and a truth that we will find on stage with a radiant Hannah Williams. And always barefoot.
Crédit photo © DR
