About six years ago I was listening to BBC Radio 3 and happened by chance to hear an interview with Camille O’Sullivan who then performed, singing live in the studio. I suddenly became mesmerised by the sound of her voice as I had never come across her name before. It was one of the most unique sounds I had ever heard and her interpretation of the two songs she sang ranged from almost inaudible whispers to crescendos of overpowering passion which transfixed me to my chair, shattered my emotions and sent giant shivers down my spine. Her personality and beguiling charm burst into the room and left me wanting more of this incredible voice. After this shock encounter, I researched her background and discovered that Camille was multi-talented. She had painted, qualified as a prize winning architect, and then after a horrific car accident and a prolonged recovery, became a full time singer who has now gained a formidable reputation for interpreting songs by Nick Cave, Tom Waits, David Bowie, Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Kurt Weill, and Jacques Brel, to name but a few. Now, apart from her singing, Camille is also a superb actress. I have become such a fan that I’ve painted two studies of her in action. As you can see her cabaret style performances combine light, dark, “fire, ice, joy and pure passion” and I have tried to capture all this in my work.
Much to my amazement, Camille O’Sullivan is still not well known in this country as, coming from Cork in Ireland with an Irish father and French mother, she has not sung at many major venues in the UK apart from the Royal Festival Hall and the Roundhouse and as a support act to Jools Holland at the Albert Hall and Olympia. On television I have only seen her once in the late show on the BBC with Jools Holland. However, she has made many live and broadcast appearances in Ireland and has proved an enormous attraction at Edinburgh International Festivals. Camille is also a regular attraction in Australia with sell out shows at the Sydney Opera House and often appears in various European countries. She is, of course, far removed from mainstream pop, and her very dramatic, theatrical style has stunned audiences everywhere, particularly her solo performance in Rape of Lucrece at the Royal Shakespeare Company which she wrote the music for with her musical director, Feargal Murray.
The lack of recent UK appearances was partially rectified when she recently gave six packed performances at the wonderful Wilton’s Music Hall in East London at the end of November where she concentrated on the narrative music of Jacques Brel and, ended her concerts with tributes to David Bowie and Leonard Cohen. We were fortunate enough to attend one of these shows and the entire experience was sensational with a long standing ovations I’m delighted that there will be a UK tour from 3rd March to 8th April next year. Hopefully at some point in the near future the media will realise how superb her stage presence and talent is and give her much more TV coverage as it’s high time we replaced some of the mediocre dross we are currently fed by the television companies on so called talent shows!
In complete contrast to this concert I also managed within a few days to go to another given by Alison Balsom (trumpet) and Gabriela Montero (piano) with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra – another fantastic evening .