Rag’N’Bone Man has told Music Week of the frustration that had him “kicking and screaming” for Columbia to release his music in the run up to his debut album Human coming out.
In an interview in the new issue of Music Week, the 31-year-old singer (real name Rory Graham) said: “I got frustrated, but you have to understand there’s a reason why you do things at certain times. I had so much music ready so long before the album came out, but it’s not just a case of, make music, put it out. There’s so much that’s involved, artwork, videos…"
Graham also spoke of the development process that followed in the wake of signing his deal with Columbia in the summer of 2014, stressing his independent nature. “I’m very independent in my thinking and how I want to do music,” he said. “I didn’t go in with 1,000 different writers and try to make this record. I picked who I wanted to work with and it worked well. It didn’t feel like a weird development deal where they were trying to get me to sound different.”
The singer, whose debut has now sold 329,666 copies to date, according to the Official Charts Company, also offered some insight as to why he was able to break through, following something of a fallow period for emerging British acts in the upper reaches of the charts.
“People don’t sell that many physical records [now] and that’s something I’ve always done well,” he said. “I feel that’s part of the reason. My streaming numbers are not the same as other artists’, physical sales make up a big part of it and I have a varied audience.”
Read the full interview - which also sees Graham open up about the drama of release week and his two BRIT Awards, and features comment from the executives behind the campaign - in the new issue of Music Week, out now. Or, click here for the online version.
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