(This is Version 18 of the FAQ. Items marked with a '*' are new to this version.
FAQ provided and maintained by Marisa Wood.
Last updated August 18 1997)
Julia was born August 10, 1962, in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England. She's the youngest of three children. Her father was an underwater photographer for Britain's Ministry of Defence. Julia began writing songs at age 12, and performing in a folk and jazz club in Portsmouth at age 14. She left school at age 15 to devote all her time to becoming a singer-songwriter.
At 16, she moved into her own flat and took a job singing jingles for a Portsmouth radio station. At about age 19, she answered an ad in Melody Maker (a British music magazine) for a backup singer, and moved to London. She spent two years touring with Mari Wilson as a backup singer. After that, she sang backup vocals for Kim Wilde.
At 23 or 24, Julia went on the Enterprise Allowance Scheme, which allowed her to spend all her time getting her demo together and going round to the record companies. It was in Glasgow, Scotland, that Julia met Bill Padley and Grant Mitchell, who helped her record her demo. That tape resulted in a deal with Circa Records (her albums are distibuted by Virgin Records in the US). She started her first (self-titled) album on her 25th birthday. It was released in 1988, and was both critically acclaimed and commercially successful. The rest, as they say, is history. :-)
So what kind of music does Julia make? Pop, folk, jazz, or what?
Good question! She defies categorization. Some people consider her music folk, in the singer-songwriter tradition of Joni Mitchell, Laura Nyro, or Joan Armatrading. Julia does cite Joni as her most important influence, and does write songs about social issues. Other people think of her as a pop or rock singer. Still others believe she's a contemporary jazz performer. Many of her songs are "torch" songs (i.e. songs about love gone wrong), and her voice has also been compared to those of such jazz and blues greats as Nina Simone and Bessie Smith.
To date, she has released five studio albums. They are: Julia Fordham (1988); Porcelain (1989 UK/1990 US); Swept (1991); Falling Forward (1994); and East West (1997).
The track listings for the UK and US pressings of Porcelain are slightly different. The US pressing includes "Manhattan Skyline," which the UK version does not (presumably because the subject matter of the song would appeal more to an American audience), but it leaves off two songs that are on the UK version, "China Blue" and "Prince of Peace."
In 1989 a Julia Fordham live album was released in Japan. The album is still available through cdeurope.com. To order it, type "telnet cdeurope.com" at the UNIX prompt on your system, then "S" to search the CD database, then "Fordham, Julia," for a listing of Julia albums, then "VJD-2501," the catalog number of the live album. Expect to wait five or six weeks for the album's arrival. [And BE WARNED, this album's NOT cheap! I paid nearly $40US for it, including shipping and handling charges--Marisa]
She's a contralto (deep alto). The top of her range is quite high, but her voice is most powerful at the bottom of her range. She says that even as a child, she had a naturally low voice. That voice has sometimes caused her to be mistaken for a member of the opposite sex! [Don't flame me for this, but the first time I saw Julia on VH-1, I thought I hadn't seen anyone so androgynous-looking, and sounding, since Annie Lennox!--Marisa]
* Yes. She plays guitar on both Porcelain and East West, and keyboards on "Stay," a song on East West.
Julia is "now in possession of a much more knowing approach to her work" since Falling Forward, but flashes of inspiration still play a part, as they did with her earlier albums. "I do feel like some of this stuff just comes to me, but I have learned over the course of this record that I can also control it and give it direction. I didn't have to walk about the streets or sit in a plane or on a train waiting to receive some sort of lightning flash!"
She finds that her sad times give her the most inspiration. Most of her lyrics are autobiographical, but some are based on observation-- for example, of other women she knows who are in similar situations. Even when her lyrics aren't autobiographical, Julia says they have to have a "ring of honesty" for her to sing them with feeling.
She's filmed videos for "Happy Ever After," "Comfort of Strangers," "Manhattan Skyline," "Lock and Key," "(Love Moves in) Mysterious Ways," and most recently, "I Can't Help Myself," and "Hope, Prayer and Time."
In addition, she released a full-length video called Porcelain: Live in Concert in 1990. That video is now out of print.
A documentary called "Just Passing Through," which includes more recent Julia concert footage, premiered on a PBS station in Chicago in the fall of 1995.
She's said she is partial to other female singer-songwriters, such as Joni Mitchell and Shawn Colvin. [If Jules ever gets on the 'Net, I think she'd have a lot of fun on a mailing list called ecto!--Marisa]
There is now a Julia Fordham WWW site! Philip Sainty is the site maintainer. If you have a World Wide Web browser, such as Lynx or Mosaic or Netscape, you can access the home page at this URL:
http://geocities.datacellar.net/SunsetStrip/Cabaret/8080/JF_index.html
Jules' name is mentioned occasionally on the Usenet newsgroups alt.music.alternative.female and alt.music.ecto. The rec.music.gaffa FAQ has a pointer to the mailing list. Also, the rumor that Julia is a lesbian has appeared on soc.motss. To avoid the flamewars that have disrupted mailing lists for other artists, that question is dealt with below.
I think I'll let Julia answer that one. :-) In the October 1994 issue of the (London) Gay Times, Julia said, "I'm someone who can have really close relationships with people, and I do have really close women friends, but I have never had a lesbian experience."
Julia isn't bothered by the long-standing rumors about her sexual orientation. "Absolutely not at all. Not even a bit. I never feel I have to put the record straight and also I think I never want to say I'm heterosexual because, although fundamentally I am, I would not want to exclude anything that might happen as my life goes on. I've always felt quite at ease with my sexuality, I wouldn't want to bracket myself in any one way. I do think other people like to do that."
She's aware she has a strong lesbian following, and she appreciates her fans regardless of sexual orientation. "I only take it as a positive thing. If people support me, I'm grateful."
Julia is currently on tour! (August 1997). See Virgin Records' Julia page for concert dates.
[Recent concert reviews would be most appreciated! :) ]
I want to tell Julia I love her music! Where can I write to her?
*
15030 Ventura Blvd.,* Jules is currently (August 1997) touring in support of her fifth album, East West.
* It's a spinoff of ecto, a mailing list in theory about Happy Rhodes but in practice about other female singers as well. I put The Question to the ecto list on July 12, 1994: "Any Julia Fordham fans out there?" I got responses, and the core of the mailing list developed from that. On July 14, 1994, falling-forward was born. The list has moved twice, and changed names, since then, and now has more than 160 subscribers!
To join falling-forward, send an e-mail message to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com, with the following in the body of the message (anything in the subject field will be ignored):
subscribe julia-fordham
(note; the list name is "julia-fordham" with a dash, NOT "julia fordham")
To unsubscribe from the list:
unsubscribe julia-fordham
To get (currently weekly) digests instead of normal mail:
set julia-fordham digest
If you have any problems with the list, please contact Kevin F. Quinn, the list maintainer, at julia-fordham-request@home.ease.lsoft.com
To post messages to the list members, e-mail: julia-fordham@home.ease.lsoft.com
Does Julia know about the mailing list? Does her management company?
* Yes to both. Julia's publicist reports that her management "were pleased to hear about the mailing list on the Internet."
Julia, however, didn't find out about her fans in cyberspace until very recently. Her sister, Claire Cross, says she's "never seen Julia so excited" about anything before. And, in fact, we "Banana Demons" are thanked in the credits of Julia's latest album! :)))))
Special thanks to the following people, who contributed to this FAQ: Tim Cook, Neal Copperman, Claire Cross, Steve Fagg, Jeff Hanson, Ella Macpherson, Kevin F. Quinn, Kristi Skeens, Philip Sainty, Scott Silberstein, Rick Wittstruck, and extra specially, Julia Fordham herself!
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