Imelda May – HuffPost 8.19.11

Mike Ragogna: Imelda, what advice might you have for new artists?

Imelda May: Oooh, that’s a good one. I would say just enjoy yourself. The main thing is to enjoy yourself. Just enjoy every moment of it. Work hard. Looks are only a small part of it, and hard work is the backbone of it. Once you enjoy your work, you don’t mind putting in 16 hours in the studio–I absolutely love that, very much. I would say, just follow your heart–actually I got that advice from the wonderful Dr. John. I was making the album, and I was arguing my case with the record company to produce my own album, which is not the normal procedure, and I think they were freaking out a little bit, worrying. I really wanted to produce it because I knew how I wanted it to sound and I had all these ideas to do. I met Dr. John and was chatting with him and he gave me some terrific advice about following what’s in your heart, and what’s in your gut. I fought tooth and nail to produce it, and I’m so glad that I did. In the end, the record company became very supportive and backed me up. So, I will pass Dr. John’s message along and say follow your heart. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes is the other thing I’d say. There are all these TV shows for music at the moment, and I worry about people that go on things like that because they don’t get a chance to make mistakes, and they get watched and judged on everything they do. For me, the way I came up was a terrific way–gigging, meeting a lot of friends, meeting a lot of musicians, making mistakes when nobody was looking and learning from them, and thoroughly enjoying it. So, those music TV shows are a small way of getting into the music business, but there are many other ways of getting involved in it. For me, enjoyment and the love of it is the absolute heart and soul of it.

MR: Wow. That is one of the best answers I’ve gotten to that question.

IM: Oh, thank you very much. I can only answer the truth from what I’ve lived.