Judith Hill enters our Zoom call from a hotel in France. A terrific soul singer who puts on a stomping live show with her family band, Hill is in the throes of a European tour. She is returning to London’s Jazz Café on Wednesday 3rd May for a night of “funk, soul, and rock and roll.” Ahead of her London date, we chatted about her career, the experiences that shaped her, and her albums to date.
THTSB: A lot of people were first introduced to you on NBC’s The Voice. For our readers who may be unfamiliar with The Voice, it’s a talent competition where contestants audition with the judges’ backs to them. The judges turn around if they want a contestant on their team. You auditioned singing a totally rearranged version of Christina Aguilera’s “What a Girl Wants.” How did you come up with that arrangement?
JH: When I was listening to that song, I realised… it was a blues song. So it was fun to just be able to extract all of those elements. That’s always the joy about being a soul singer – you look for those things.
THTSB: All the judges turned around for you and you chose to work with Adam Levine, making it to the live finals before a shock elimination. Would you recommend that aspiring or emergent artists enter a talent competition like The Voice?
JH: I do actually recommend it. I think it’s a great opportunity for artists to get out there and build their fan base and for people to hear their style.
THTSB: A lot of people also came across you watching the Oscar-winning film 20 Feet from Stardom, an homage to backing singers. You featured alongside such luminaries as Merry Clayton, Lisa Fischer, and Darlene Love. What are some of your seminal backing vocal experiences?
JH: I’ll never forget my experiences with the greats like Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder and Prince. Being able to just be a student and watch greatness in front of your eyes really does transform you. Who I am now, where I am, and what I’m talking about in life is an accumulation of all the experiences I’ve gone through. I’ve learned so much just being on many stages.
THTSB: Your voice is incredibly distinct with those smooth, but also very raspy tones. How has your approach to delivering a song vocally changed over time?
JH: I don’t think there was ever a day where I discovered my vocal identity. I will say that I think the aggressive part of my singing came later. I was a smoother singer [when I was] younger. And I think that the angst of life just threw me into more of a roar. It just feels very natural to be more of a blues singer that has all that freedom and can just ‘go off’ and do what I need to do.
THTSB: Which voices in particular do you draw inspiration from?
JH: I’ve always felt like Janis Joplin was somebody who was never ‘singing’ but just speaking her heart and that felt so authentic. And then The Clark Sisters have always been huge inspirations for me in terms of this grittiness but connected with the spiritual feeling. And of course, Aretha is a staple for me.
THTSB: You’ve released three albums thus far. What would you say is the evolution between them?
JH: I think that the evolution is this slow, slow process of really embracing my story and my identity. It’s really cool to see the first album [Back in Time] with the picture of me as a four year old at the piano, and then the second one being called Golden Child. There’s always this theme of childhood that’s brought back. My inner child is longing to find herself. And so that’s the journey. Musically, I’m always going to be a funkster.
THTSB: What can you tell us about your upcoming fourth album (release date tbc)?
JH: We were just coming out of pandemic. That’s when this new album hit me. And then it was just like wildfire. The music just came out of me. It goes really deep into some craziness and I think it took the pandemic for me to be able to find the courage to make this album.
THTSB: Sonically, can we expect your usual combination of funk, soul, and rock and roll?
JH: It’s definitely still that [but] it’s a little bit more complex. Funk has always been sort of affiliated with party and dancing. I really [wanted to] explore the possibilities of how deep can you go with funk, how dark and how honest can you get in that genre.
THTSB: Finally, what can we expect at your Jazz Café concert?
JH: You can hear the new album for sure. I’ve been doing bits and pieces from all three albums, but most of it is from the new album and it’s been really fun to play!
