This is your 3rd album and its become somewhat of a modern day classic, tell us a bit about it?

This is my first ablum with the Soul Investigators and i have 2 previous albums which were well received. This ablum started off by doing a 7" record with the band, after that we thought well, we should do more stuff, so it wasn't really planned, it just happened which is great because we weren't too worried about it so it made the music more free flowing. We started recording in Barcelona and then Helsinki.

Tell us about the recording process as there are 10 of you so there must be lots of creativity involved?

Well i wrote my melodies and lyrics for the main memebers of the group, then they lay down organs, guitar and drums, this is basically how it goes, we recorded almost immediately after laying it all down. Over the year with all our performances it feels as though the songs have come more to life and we plan on doing something similar in the future, practising the songs first to make the vocal performance more inspiring. I feel like my vocals sound a little bit simple on the album, I'd like to go for it more and improve my voice. Also my husband Jimi Tenor had an influence on the recording process. Mainly it was lots of analog and less machinery and computers.

Scandinavia had a thriving funk scene in the 70s which not many know about, is this why you live in Finland?

Finland is kind of known for its jazz scene but the reason i moved to Finland is mainly because of my children, we started to think about they're education and well being and as they're father is Finnish and i am American it made more sense. Also my husband's work was mainly based there so it all fit.

What is your background in music?

I've been working in music off and on for 20 years, its something i started doing, i had no real formal training in music, i had some art education which fell through and i so i stuck with music because i knew it something i could do, i had doubts about my skills sometimes and i learnt to work with my limitations and try to go for different things. Im more mature now so i like to think that i can make younger people aware of something that they might not necessarily be aware of. I started to sing in New York where i started a group called the Reprecussions, we were signed to Warner Bros for a brief time, then onto a Japanese label, after that we split up and i was trying to figure out what it is i want to do, which music scene, watching and learning. I then got to work on my 1st album which gave me a good work experience to follow on to where we are now.

What are the great influences in your life? What inspires you?

Everyday life has been an inspiration, i used to tell more personal stories but i feel like a wanted to communicate more with everyone on this latest album rather than tell such a personal story, sort of flip the coin in a way to communicate with various generations. My family, my husband are definately inspirational. People are always evolving so lots of things influence me with time.

Ive heard that you have an impressive record collection, is this true?

I dont buy all types of records so the collection isnt tremendously big, im quite picky about what i like so ive picked up a lot of the good stuff, lots of fusion stuff, latin, jazz, funk. One of the guys from the band buys records in every town we visit, i try not to do this!

As a singer you've been compared to Nina Simone, Tina Turner and Aretha Franklin, how do you feel about that?

Its very pleasing and surprising, because they are all great singers, I love that people can identify me to any of those people.

Any parting words of wisdom?

Remember to take care of your well being and be responsible for the world that we live in, be aware!

by James Wall