Florence Welch has quit the booze

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I was going to say she is hotter in a red dress than Mary Davis

Quitting booze has really helped my voice

Great British talent ... Florence Welch


By JACQUI SWIFT

Published: 21st October 2011


WITH the Manhattan Bridge as a backdrop and twinkling lights across the East River, it's a magical setting for Florence And The Machine to launch their latest songs to a New York crowd.


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In a trailer/dressing-room behind DUMBO (Down Under Manhattan Bridge Overpass), Florence is preparing for the gig. She is known for her epic, soaring voice and it requires plenty of tuning up.
Twenty minutes before show time, as she has her make-up applied, the singer practises her vocal scales.
And there's no diva-like tantrums about clearing the room while she does so.
As her managers Mairead and Hannah locate shoes and jewellery, Flo nips into the bathroom to try her trickier notes as one of the production team pops her head in to say: "Five minutes until show time."

Icon ... Florence Welch



"Playing live has definitely affected how I came to write this new album because I had more of an idea of how it was going to be performed," said Florence. "When we played the songs from the first album live, they changed so much. They had different breakdowns, intros and outros but I thought it would be nice to have that in this record already.
"So we did a lot of live rehearsal before we started, which informed the structure of the tracks."
It has been two years since Florence burst on to the music scene with her three-million-selling debut album Lungs.
It picked up last year's Brit Award for Best Album and launched the Londoner as one of our greatest talents in recent years.

Icon

Lungs — which included hit singles Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up) and You've Got the Love — spent 65 consecutive weeks within the Top 40 and 35 of those in the Top 10.
And it's not just her UK fans who love the striking singer.
When SFTW meets Florence at New York's Bowery Hotel, all eyes are on her as she arrives and sits on a sofa in the lounge.
At 5ft 8in, she's hard to miss but taking off her black fedora hat and shaking her mane of flame-coloured hair, it's obvious why she's such a style icon as well as a remarkable singer. (How many young girls have dyed their hair red since Florence and Cheryl Cole did?) Not that success has affected her. Despite all the fame and acclaim, Florence says she's still terrified of being in the public eye.
In a hushed voice, she said: "I am still scared by any public speaking. Collecting that first Brit Award (for Critics' Choice Award in 2009) was probably the most terrifying thing I've ever had to do.
"And I've not changed. Performing at this year's Grammy Awards was another. I was up there with such a high calibre of singers and established performers. And then there was me.
"From south London to Los Angeles to here in New York. It's been frightening all the way."
Though when the art school dropout takes to the stage, you'd never tell she was so shy. Captivating and ethereal, her performance of mainly new tracks is spell-binding.
Florence kicked off the event — a mini-festival set up by the Creators Project, which celebrates the collective works of artists, designers and musicians — with electronic acts Justice and Four Tet also on the bill. It will be the smallest stage she will appear on all year.
Fans who weren't lucky enough to grab tickets for this one-off show hang out of nearby apartment windows trying to secure a view.
New album Ceremonials proves that Lungs was no fluke. There are epic songs with celestial choirs and rolling drums throughout.
Florence has also taken a more soulful direction. No Light, No Light was inspired by Otis Redding and Spectrum could be this album's You've Got The Love if the reaction tonight at DUMBO proves positive.
Ceremonials is a grander album than Lungs. Epic but more cohesive through working with just one producer, Paul Epworth, at London's Abbey Road Studios.




Florence said: "I loved working with all the producers on the first record but there was something about how Cosmic Love (one of the tracks Paul produced on Lungs) turned out.
"Paul's been a huge support and he understands me musically. He would send me amazing instrumentals of English church bells and I'd think of ideas.
"He helped spark my imagination, which made writing this album an easier process."
On Lungs, there were eerie songs about violence, coffins, werewolves and vampires. On Ceremonials, one track — Only If For A Night — was inspired by the ghost of her grandmother, who visited her in a dream.
Florence, 25, said: "She just appeared and was shining and glimmering.
"She told me to focus on my career and that she was proud. I threw my arms around her legs and woke up crying. She'd died when I was 13 and I'd never seen or dreamed about her before. She was there and I was there — it was mental."
It was this dream which inspired Florence to write the standout track on Ceremonials. She says: "I just wanted to write about it. I felt like I owed it to her. She was really into performing and singing. I thought about the dream and just wrote the rest of the song."
On another stunning song, What The Water Gave Me, she was inspired by a Frida Kahlo painting and one of the song's lyrics refers to the suicide of writer Virginia Woolf, who filled her coat pockets with stones and walked into the River Ouse and drowned in 1941.
Unlike many singers today, there's no hiding behind auto-tune for Florence who can belt out a number with the best of them.
Florence, PJ Harvey, Adele and Laura Marling are all flying the flag for real female talent in British music.
It's no wonder Florence is in such good company and being called the new Kate Bush.
"I'm kind of in awe of those singers but I'm proud to be mentioned with them," she tells me.
"The onstage me and the offstage me are very different.
"It's not like it's a different me on stage — that's the place where I'm a sensory control freak. I like to control how things look and sound. I will go into a hotel room and hang my clothes up until the room is just how I want it.
"But that level of control freakery and perfectionism also leads to moments of total chaos, drama and disaster because you keep yourself this way and that way.
"And that's what comes together on stage. There are two sides of me, completely at odds but which work together on stage.
"I immerse myself completely when I perform and the chaos and control are one."
Sir Paul McCartney and Jay-Z are huge fans, while mum-to-be Beyonce claimed that Florence was a huge inspiration for her last album, 4.
Irish giants U2 also invited the singer and her band The Machine to support them in America this summer.
Shy Florence said: "Bono was great. He gave me advice on how to perform even when I'm wearing huge high-heeled shoes. He told me how to keep my feet on the spot and use my arms.

Sprint

"I loved those shows. It was like being a gladiator. It was in the round, so I had people all around us. It was like being in the Coliseum with people as far as the eye can see.
"I was wearing a massive chiffon couture gown running around Bono's walkway.
"The first show I stayed quite central but the second time, there's this huge loop which goes all the way into the crowd.
"During the long instrumental bit in Rabbit Heart, I decided to sprint about 500m in this chiffon outfit, screaming.
"I had to get round before the instrumental bit ended so I was like racing against myself, thinking, 'Oh my God I've got to speed up'."
Since she has returned to touring, there has been one major change for Florence.


"I have stopped drinking on tour," she said. "I feel a bit more responsibility for my body and for the fans who come to see us. When we toured with U2 it was such a gruelling schedule. I had shows every day and I can't do that with a hangover. So I've been good to myself. "When I'm living in London or out with friends, it's quite easy to let your hair down and go out partying but when it came to the tour, I thought I'd had my fun.
"This is the best job in the world and I don't want to spoil it.
"Stopping drinking has made a huge difference to my vocal range too."
After the DUMBO gig, it's back to Florence's Portakabin where the usually subdued singer is hopping up and down.
"That was brilliant. I'm glad it went so well. I'm so happy.
"Yes, I'm more mature on this album but things still are the same. I'm still always in the middle of chaos and lose my phone all the time.
"But that's how I work and I am so grateful to have this outlet of writing and performing because, without it, I would be way crazier."


http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/bizarre/3886112/Quitting-booze-has-really-helped.html