After Leoni, then 13 years old, performed at the Houses of Parliament and won the UK’s first under-19 singer-songwriter award in 2014, Orange Amps endorsed her and Yamaha sponsored her. The ‘Freddie Mercury’ Scholarship, which covered all of her tuition at the university, was awarded to her by ‘Queen’s’ Brian May and Roger Taylor in 2018. She later pursued a master’s degree in songwriting. Leoni plays PRS Guitars, and her abilities were once again acknowledged when she was selected as a 2023–2024 “PRS Guitars Pulse Artist,” representing the brand as an independent artist. Her most recent album, “New World Woman,” was an acoustic reinterpretation of tracks by prog rockers Rush, which was independently recorded and published in 2023.
We sat down to talk to Leoni after her new single “Different Kind of Woman” was released and I (Lorraine) reviewed it for the magazine.
I said at the time, “This one has rich production, and it took me into one of those warm nights in Madrid for some reason! It has a powerful dreamy rock vibe with a solid drum sound and a slightly funk feel that would have you swaying to the beat. The layering of instruments creates a lush, immersive soundscape that feels both nostalgic and contemporary. I liked the feel of it, and the melancholy in the lyrics over the loss of love echoes the winter season, bringing an emotional depth that lingers. It’s the kind of song that blends sorrow and rhythm in a way that connects, like Anne Wilson does with her storytelling. Have a listen!”
So with all this in mind… on with the interview.
We started the interview by asking about Leoni’s development as a storyteller and whether she felt we value the arts generally enough in the UK. There is a general feeling that singing and music are fine for a hobby, but go and learn math! This, to us here, appears all wrong when set against how much the arts bring to the economy and how successful we are.
Leoni: I agree. There are plenty of artists today speaking out about issues impacting artists. Kate Nash is an example (she has spoken out about Spotify and Live Nation).The streaming companies are making huge sums of money, and it is only increasing, but the artist is definitely not getting paid in reflection to that (Kate Nash commented that music is not a club for the rich). The problem is that today, as an artist coming from nowhere, you need that platform. But the audience… not everyone can afford to pay a few pounds for a song, but if you can buy a coffee, you can buy an artist a coffee. Generally, music is not seen as a purchase now by younger audiences; they may see it as a waste of money as they can get it for free. That is where it is going wrong, as it decreases the value of the artists. Also, we are contending now with AI, which can potentially take away from artists and musicians. This is not just a hobby; of course we may be very passionate about what we do, but in the past few years I have written a lot of songs but released very few, as they would just get lost in so much noise. I would say this is both the best and the worst time to be a creator of music. It is the best because we have so many platforms where we can create and show the world who we are and what we are about, but where does that go? It is a wide question, and Spotify can divide opinions between musicians. But you touch on the wider issue of the education system as well, and I would note it is the education system that has got me where I am. There was a teacher in school who was my art and music teacher, and I now tour with him! It is because of the connection I made at that young age and he has become my collaborator musically; I create my music with him; he’s called Eoin de Paor. Without his support at that age, there are plenty of students that would have lacked the support I had. I am a teacher myself now; I teach older students and watch these people learn from me and my experiences; none of this would have happened without support. We all learn from the previous generation. But its treated as a hobby by many because it’s so hard to earn a living from music at the moment, and the way it’s going, it doesn’t look as if that will change.
We spoke with Gene Simmons a few years ago and he told us that the music industry had failed to protect artists when the business model changed to streaming. He felt that we undervalue music now, as it is given away for free, or that musicians are asking for a coffee on their website. He was partly responding to the fact that we do that here at the magazine, as readers can read the magazine for free too, and then we ask for the donation. So that is right, and you would never go to a restaurant, eat a meal and then have the chef ask you to donate something at the end.
Leoni: Yes to that. It does hit the nail on the head, although there are different perspectives to it. For a musician to have an income, they usually need another job; I teach as well. I have sold records and I have been on tours. I have been to the Netherlands, America and so on, but I lack income from the music, apart from the merchandise side of things. That just about covers the travel costs; you look to break even, and that is not acceptable. I wait patiently as an independent artist if things change. There are artists looking to push; Kate Nash is a great example. We need more like her, successful artists who can speak for us and have conversations for others to see and witness. There is otherwise a sense of disconnection with the middle-guys who can make a career, just, and those who are making good money still from touring. Talking about this and raising things on social media, I hope and believe can make a difference in the long run. It can’t stay like this, and independent artists need apps like TikTok to reach an audience today. If you can, you build up mailing lists and get connections with artists; without that, I don’t know how you would manage.
In one of our recent editorials, Benny raised how, although on one level, there are artists like Taylor Swift and Oasis selling out stadiums—on another level, smaller venues have been closing, leaving musicians further down the scale with fewer and fewer venues to play in. The bigger shows take money from the audiences anyway with tickets £100+ so the audience can only pay for so much.
Leoni: We absolutely need those smaller venues.
Listening to the 2023 album “New World Woman,” it covers Rush with style! We especially liked the version of “Mystic Rhythms,” for example. But away from covers, Leoni is an accomplished storyteller with her lyrics. One of our friends at the magazine, Shirley King (BB’s daughter), told us how, as you get older, you begin to employ the blues into your music ever more as you connect to your own stories and at the heart of every good narration there lies the blues. How does Leoni feel about that? Is the blues there in the heart of music still? We see Leoni more as a folk artist.
Leoni: I can see blues and folk within my music. I remember being up north in my teens watching and playing in pubs with people who had lived their lives and written their songs. I was surrounded by that at a young age so I was living this when I started writing songs, imagining and empathizing with these musicians and the stories they were telling. There is also the feel they had when they were playing music and the sense of how they were in the music and feeling a part of it. The man who taught me guitar was in a band and he was playing in my local pub and I was there every Thursday up till I was 16/17 and me and my mum would be there and we would play Elvis, The Beatles and so on. I met some great blues players; people took turns and performed together, the harmonica too. Imagine an Irish lock-in! Actually, we did have a lock-in at one point as the electricity went out, but we carried on playing acoustic! But that was my upbringing and my foundation. When I think about my career and where it has gone, then that is where it began and my songs remain influenced by that guitarist, Pete Lawrenson, a musical dad from an early age. And storytelling has been with people in our roots from time began; for me, stories are part of us.
Where does Leoni pull from when she is creating her lyrics?
Leoni: I wear my heart on my sleeve lyrically and it is a description to take someone along with me in the same thought process. I write in a similar way to the story so you can imagine the way that I feel, which I do quite a lot. There was a track I wrote when I was doing my Masters in songwriting, “Ammunition,” and I was drawn to how I hadn’t spoken to my dad for 13 years and that obviously played on my mind, whether I wanted it to or not. I look back and know it impacted my relationships with others that I have come across, so I wrote this song about the lack of relationship I had with my dad and how that impacted me. It is a song about me, what went wrong and how I feel. How do you feel now that I am older and you weren’t there to watch me grow? The song asks questions that I never asked him and probably never will ask. I think people could relate, as we all have problems with those close to us sometimes. There is never a perfect family, but you make the family as you want. After hearing “Ammunition,” people have come up to me after shows and they say how the song has touched them. When I write songs, I want them to be relatable. Part of the Masters was on exploring grief, and I found that after the loss of my grandad songs helped me. For me, heart on sleeve is the best way; everything comes out; every time you revisit something, it can be different emotions. There is no specific template for me, as I don’t know how I will approach something at that time. Most of the time I will pick up a guitar and start with a guitar riff; however that riff resonates with me and makes me feel, that will steer the direction of the song. Songwriting happens around my life as well; what is happening will impact it, and I may not realize it until I look back and know I was writing that song when something was happening.
“Different Kind of Woman” being the new one.
Leoni: I was at university when I wrote that; the song became how I found myself as a woman and how I am now comfortable with myself.
On the new single, it has a Celtic-style greenward cover, yet the song is quite haunting and sad—a sad song for winter. Is it a sad song? We all hear different things in a song.
Leoni: I think it is a sad song. How I described it probably doesn’t do it justice. People will always take from a song what they will and what is happening in their lives, but I feel it is a sad song because it was also about losing someone, but it is always open to interpretation. There is an “I’m not good enough” aspect to the song when I hear it now, and for me that is sad because that is not how I see myself. On a positive note, I came through the other side of it, and look where I am now. So it is an empowerment song.
It is never getting knocked down that matters; it’s getting up again! And the last question is what Leoni can share with us for her plans this coming year.
Leoni: It is about getting up again and finding something that you can enjoy and find enriching. I started knitting! For 2025 on the horizon, I am releasing a new single every five weeks or so. I am just figuring out the logistics of it all. It will be a busy year. In April I am on tour with Solstace doing an opening support slot on acoustic (tickets for the tour here). I will be doing my material. Then I will jump onstage later with the band to do some backing vocals and guitar or keyboard work. Also on February 22, I am part of ‘One Winter’s Night’ in Guildford and after April, I think I am supporting The Anchoress on some dates. Lastly, I hope to release the whole new album this year. I’m not in a rush to do this, but it has been a few years since I recorded this material. I had a negative time with a producer who messed me over a few years ago, so really this should have been out three years ago. I have been lucky to have Eliot Kennedy, who has worked with the Spice Girls; he took the project on and helped me along with Nick Andrew. I owe them so much for getting this done. We may see “Ammunition” on the album, but it wasn’t produced by Eliot, so we will see! But that is what is happening in 2025!
And that concluded the interview—so much happening!
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Artist Website here
You can stream music from Leoni here
By Mark C. Chambers
and
Lorraine Foley
