Talk:Corinne Bailey Rae

Grammy???

yes she was featured on the album that won album of the year but the way it is said their sounds like she won it she didn't i think that need to be re-written as it sound's like she won it when she didn't, that is a little partly hers but it needs to be re-written like Rae also share a grammy for album of the year for featuring on Herbie Hancocks River: The Joni Letters along with Leonard Cohen, Norah Jones, Joni Mitchell, Luciana Souza & Tina Turner this is not the place to big up your fav celeb's that comment sounds very POV/fan club style writing it's not fair and not what wikipedia is about, she did only one song on the album and was only featuring on it at that please change it now someone is trying to make it sound bigger than it is, i've never done that sort of thing with my fav celebs on hear so no one esle should. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.22.206.205 (talk) 23:43, 25 March 2008 (UTC)

Whats her proper name?

Can anyone confirm her correct name? Is it Corinne Rae (with Bailey as a middle name), Corinne Bailey-Rae? I note that her first name is pronounced unconventionally (with the emphasis on the second syllable), so maybe her surname is unconventional too. DavidFarmbrough 09:13, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

Her name is Corrine Bailey Rae (no hyphen). Her maiden name was Corinne Bailey, but when she married her husband, Jason Rae, she took his last name. Its pronounced "Cor-r-in Bay-lee Ray". Rimmers 19.42, 12 March 2006 (UTC)

If it's a husband's name, wouldn't that make her either Corinne Rae or Corrine Bailey-Rae? DavidFarmbrough 10:25, 13 March 2006 (UTC)

If you go on the name article, go to the links at the bottom and there is a link to an interview with The Guardian. At the end she explains that her name is "Corinne Bailey Rae" Rimmers 22:37, 15 March 2006 (UTC)

There is now her explanation - apparently she thinks leaving out the hyphen will make it seem less posh. She's probably right.

According to a Wiki article on Married and maiden names, [1],

[i]t is common for women, especially in the U.S. and Canada, to take their husband's name but put it after their birth name. For example, if "Kate Wilson" marries "John Smith", her name would become "Kate Wilson Smith" or "Kate Wilson-Smith";

and one entitled Middle name, [2] explains that

[i]n the United States, it is not uncommon for a woman, upon marriage and the changing of her last name to that of her husband, to change her middle name to her maiden name.

As such, there is nothing unusual about her choice of name, and it certainly would raise no eyebrows on this side of the pond.

Consider, for example "Hillary Rodham Clinton," born "Hillary Diane Rodham." "Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton" would likely be a bit unwieldy in everyday affairs, but could readily be used as her full legal name. She might have also chosen "Hillary Diane Clinton," but that is unusual here except in the case of women who are known by their first and middle names and which names are often used together (e.g, Mary Jane, Jo Anne, Jean Marie, etc.). Additionally, here in the States, hyphenated names are often used to give offspring a connection with their maternal lineage as well as the paternal. So, again, using the same plain old folks mentioned above, had Hillary chosen not to adopt her husband's name upon marriage (after all, it's only a convention, not a legal requirement in most states), William Jefferson Clinton and Hillary Diane Rodham might have begotten a daughter named Chelsea Victoria Rodham-Clinton.

The flaw in my comment (if it is, indeed, a flaw) is that, although the information is correct, Corinne Bailey Rae is a right-pondian and, as such, the explanation probably doesn't really apply to her. I suspect she chooses to go by Corinne Bailey Rae because it satisfies her "indie" sensibility more than anything else.

(I can't even begin to tell you how much it pains me to have to use the aforementioned family as my example, but they are most assuredly well-known, and, when the name popped into my head, it seemed better to go with it than waste time trying to come up with another -- especially since I'm supposed to be working, not goofing around on Wiki.)  :-(

Lanternshine 03:06, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

The article now says she worked as a 'hatcheck girl' - aside from the question of whether that should be hat check or hat-check (I am joking! :-) Are there really hat check girls in Leeds? I remember this is what the American music press used to say about our Cilla Black, whereas in reality she was a cloakroom attendant (although that sounds like she worked in the toilets!) DavidFarmbrough 13:58, 17 March 2006 (UTC)

Father's Ancestry

I changed her father's ancestry from West African to West Indian to match what is on her web site as well as other biographies that I found on the Internet. -- Sgartner 23:02, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

Original?

this whole article seems copied from her website. could we change it? Colorfulharp233 17:10, 13 July 2006 (UTC)

I tried to clean up some of the obvious POV/fan club writing. I did leave in some of the text from her "official biography" for the time being. Also changed all reference to her last name, as it should be. NickBurns 02:20, 19 July 2006 (UTC)

Table Albums and Singles

As is required by WP:ALBUMS, the albums and singles should be listed in a table. Plus, this looks much tidier. If you remove again, please explain why in the talk page.

--linca^linca 04:49, 16 December 2006 (UTC)

Grammy Awards

Can anyone please tell me what song she sang at the 2007 Grammy Awards? I can't seem to find mention of it anywhere. Thanks SJM 11 February 2007

offensive sexual remark...

Hello all,

Early in the bio there is a VERY offensive paraenthetical remark re Black men and white women. I don't know how to flag or edit it so i thought i would suggest that someone do so...

Increasingly Sexual Image

Corinne has stated before that she doesn't want to be a pop star-she is a pop singer. She has also said that she doesn't like the idea of having to flaunt her body to sell records, like Britney Spears or Christina Aguilera. But in her recent 'I'd Like To' video she is acting in a rather suggestive manner, especially compared to previous efforts such as 'put Your Records On'. Should this be added to the article? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 212.139.213.42 (talk) 17:26, 17 February 2007 (UTC).

Oh, and today I got my heat magazine and there was a photo of her at an event wearing a short dress that had blown up to show that she was wearing a g-string. Until recently I would not have considered Corinne Bailey Rae to be a g-string sort of person. Nukleoptra 20:37, 28 February 2007 (UTC)

Alphabetise as B or R?

At present there's a DEFAULTSORT which makes her file as Bailey Rae, Corinne, but I notice that throughout the article she's referred to as Rae. So would she, or her fans, expect to find her filed under B or R? If you look at "People from Leeds" she files under B, at present - though this could be changed by editing the DEFAULTSORT. I know there's been discussion of her name, above, but it doesn't help on this question! PamD 19:18, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

Her surname is "Bailey Rae" as she was born "Corinne Bailey" and married keeping her surname and appending "Rae." Because of this, she may be referenced correctly with and of the names, Corinne, Bailey or Rae, though generally should probably be referred to by her full surname of "Bailey Rae."

In short, The defsort's right, but the usage, though correct, could do with some tweaking where it refers to her as "Rae." --linca^linca 02:46, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

It definitely should be Bailey Rae, not Rae. Even without a hyphen, Bailey Rae is her surname - so if anyone has the time or inclination this should be changed. Smurfmeister (talk) 14:14, 25 March 2008 (UTC)

Unlikely to be assumed to be of Iraqi origin

In the article it states "even though her verbal attackers mistakenly thought she was of Iraqi origin." of her childhood experience of racism. It then goes on to say she was called a "Paki", which is a derogatory term for those originating from Pakistan, though most 'users' of this slur would cluelessly apply it to anyone from the Indian subcontinent. So where does the assumption of Iraqi origin come from? 83.104.44.239 10:22, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

clarify use of "Helen" for Americans?

The moniker "Helen" also drew attention, albeit for not all the right reasons: "What can I say? We were 15 years old, and thought that Helen was a cheeky, indie kind of thing to do. It seemed clever at the time. Admittedly, it seems less so now".

I'm ASSUMING "Helen" means something in British English. But in any case, as a native speaker of U.S. English I have NO IDEA what this section is talking about. Why would the name "Helen" draw attention, and why is it "cheeky"? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Acc78 (talk • contribs) 22:16, 16 October 2007 (UTC)

I looked at the talk page for this very reason. A google search of "Helen British slang" doesn't seem to turn up anything. 68.166.64.134 (talk) 08:14, 31 March 2008 (UTC)

According to her website blog, the name Helen was merely uninspiring, rather than anything offensive.

Okay

I know her, i know her mum and her mum (Linda bailey) says she was racially abused on a minor scale using the word (Nigger), and it was her other sisters that got it worse. Gaogier ^Talk! 02:18, 2 February 2008 (UTC)

Childhood

Rae was born in Leeds to a Kittitian father and an English mother as the eldest of three daughters. Her sister is actress Rhea Bailey. She endured racist taunts on a regular basis as a child; "My sisters and I were different and people used to say, 'Ah, aren't they cute, the little chocolate children', and 'look at their hair'". "I know they were only being cute but it was over the top. Then people from other schools would shout, Iraqi and more often 'Paki' (a commonly used racist term in the UK) to me because it was the most common racist insult of the time. 'At least if you're going to do it, get it right,' I used to shout back, 'But my dad isn't from Pakistan, he's from St Kitts—so there!'"

Rae began her musical career at school where she studied classical violin before she turned her attention to singing: "I started off singing in church, I suppose, but people think it must have been a gospel church because of the whole, you know, black assumption", she says in reference to her multiracial background. "But it wasn't gospel at all, it was just your regular Brethren church, very middle-class, where we would sing these harmonies every Sunday. It was always my favourite part of the service, the singing."

Rae later transferred to a Baptist church, where the choir would sing traditional hymns, and Primal Scream tunes. "We changed the words though", Rae states on her website. "We didn't want to offend the regular churchgoers, now did we?"

Performing in church broadened Rae's musical horizons, and her love affair with making music was solidified after a local youth leader offered to buy her an electric guitar. In her mid-teens, she became obsessed with rock legends Led Zeppelin. "I loved that band during my teens; I wanted, somehow, to follow in their footsteps, and to create music of my own."

Rae formed an all-female indie group called Helen, which was inspired by similar acts such as Veruca Salt and L7. "It was the first time I'd seen women with guitars. They were kinda sexy—but feminist. I wanted to be like that, at the front of something."

The group raised eyebrows on several fronts; in the white male-dominated world of indie music, they were an all-female group fronted by a mixed-race singer from Leeds. The moniker "Helen" also drew attention, albeit for not all the right reasons: "What can I say? We were 15 years old, and thought that Helen was a cheeky, indie kind of thing to do. It seemed clever at the time. Admittedly, it seems less so now".

The group played many gigs around Leeds and eventually became the first indie act to be signed to heavy metal record label Roadrunner Records, home to acts such as Slipknot, in 1995. The venture proved to be short-lived however after the bassist became pregnant and the group disbanded. "[Was I] Disappointed? I was gutted! I had no idea what to do next".

Rae has often stated that she is a proud Leeds United A.F.C. fan.