Joss Stone gives up her fortune for her soul

Joss Stone’s debut album The Soul Sessions made her one of the richest musicians in the UK. But the singer recently revealed that she had handed...

00:00 15 July 2012

Joss Stone’s debut album The Soul Sessions made her one of the richest musicians in the UK. But the singer recently revealed that she had handed back most of her fortune to EMI, her record company, to buy out her then-existing contract. She says that she is now ‘down to nothing’. 

 

Joss, now 25, shared in an interview with The Mail, that leaving the label left her “flat even”. This was in spite of the fact that she used to be worth around £10million.

 

The young singer used to be one of the biggest stars in the UK. Even before Adele, Jessie J, Amy, and Florence, Joss was already topping the charts and sold more albums than any of these other young singers, with 11 million record for album sales. She has also performed with top musicians like Elton John and Mick Jagger, and has had tea with Tom Cruise at the actor’s house. Recently, she also performed for the Queen during the Jubilee Pageant.

 

Now, Joss is getting geared up for the release of her sixth album called The Soul Sessions Vol. 2. But unlike the lavish interviews she gave prior to the release of her previous albums, the interview with The Mail had to be conducted at a small music venue at Mama Stone’s, Joss’ mother’s club in Exeter. 

 

When Joss finally arrived for the interview, she was nothing like the diva who was reportedly worth £10million. She said, “I don’t have that kind of money.” She then recounted the experience with EMI. “What I had left was my house and three flats in Exeter and that was it.” 

 

“Money is the thing that people hold over you but to me it was just cotton balls. Don’t let it suffocate you. Don’t let yourself need it that much.”

 

After getting out of her contract with EMI, she felt free. “I’ll go out and play some gigs and earn my living.”

 

She also explained what it meant to be free: “On an everyday level, I don’t dress differently, I don’t live differently. I can go on a train, a bus, walk into a shop and no one will look at me because I’m not walking around with hair extensions, make-up, and some ridiculous outfit.”

 

“Do what you want,” she says as she ended the interview, with both feet firmly on the ground.