Lots of people think I’m telling porky pies when I say how nervous I get about singing. I was good at working out how music was put together, and I was good at being at the back, but if you asked me to sing up front, then I looked like I was going to pass out. Laura Mvula Read Quote
Topshop is one of my favourite shops, and I love shoes by Giuseppe Zanotti. There’s a graduate fashion designer called Kate Falcus who makes me beautiful commissioned pieces – one of my favourites was the white Glastonbury dress she made me with the puffy skirt. Laura Mvula Read Quote
I respect hippos. They just look the way they do; they can’t do anything about it, but they don’t seem bothered. Laura Mvula Read Quote
I don’t think I’ve ever been chatted up, and I don’t think I’ve ever chatted anyone up. The Fresh Prince has the best chat-up lines. Laura Mvula Read Quote
There was always a piano in the house when I was growing up – my dad played, and I thought it was cool – and when I was eight, I begged my parents to let me have lessons. After a couple of weeks, I wanted to give up, but my parents were very focused and made me keep going, which I’m very pleased about now. Laura Mvula Read Quote
My songs are very personal, which means they are fantastically therapeutic to write, but performing them night after night is emotionally draining. Laura Mvula Read Quote
My aunt is the director of the acapella group Black Voices. I was so struck by them as a child. They sang with such passion and conviction. By the time I turned 15, I had plucked up the courage to ask if I could join the group. Acapella is a different discipline from singing with an accompaniment – it is much more exposed. Laura Mvula Read Quote
Fame hasn’t really affected me. I have a really close knit group around me, and my sister is always with me, so it’s like a bit of a travelling circus. Laura Mvula Read Quote
I first played the Royal Albert Hall when I was 14. I was a violinist with the Birmingham Schools Concert Orchestra, and we travelled down from the Midlands for the last night of the School Proms. We played some pieces from the Harry Potter films, and the violin parts were really hard. Laura Mvula Read Quote
The first time I sang in church, when I was ten, the applause was so overwhelming that I started to weep. My mum had to rescue me from the stage. Laura Mvula Read Quote
