Roses Gabor

There's a natural confidence and cheer about Roses Gabor that goes a long way to explaining why so many of the biggest and best producers and artists want to work with her. She's an enthusiast through-and-through – as might she well be, given that she's already sung on a number one single and appeared on some of the biggest underground records of the last couple of years to boot – but it's tempered with a realism uncommon in young musicians that keeps both her feet planted firmly on the floor. All of this is probably for the best as her career has been enough to make anyone's head spin already. She's best known to clubbers as the voice of stone-cold dancefloor killers like Redlight's 'Stupid', Shy FX's 'Raver' (along with Donae'o), Swindle's cheeky 'Spend Is Dough' and now SBTRKT's assured and hypnotic 'Pharoahs'. But before any of these she'd already been heard by millions singing alongside Shaun Ryder on Gorillaz' huge hit 'Dare' – and has since performed everywhere from Madison Square Gardens to the Glastonbury Pyramid Stage together with the likes of Snoop Dogg, Lou Reed, Ike Turner and Dennis Hopper as part of the vast and surreal circus that is Gorillaz on tour. Roses grew up with music as a given in life. Her parents came from Grenada and the high-energy sound of soca was a constant. Her mum was, and remains to this day, a music fanatic, filling the house with a steady stream of Motown, “roots and culture reggae”, Michael Jackson and more, while her dad was more into the 80s pop of Adam & The Ants and the new romantics. “Capital FM was his station,” laughs Roses, “so I got both sides, the Grenadian and the London... obviously growing up in London I couldn't help but absorb my surroundings anyway but my dad's tastes made sure of it!” As her own tastes developed at school, hip hop was Roses' first big musical passion. From Jay-Z to A Tribe Called Quest she took it all in, but her tastes tended towards the smooth gangsta charm of Biggie Smalls and Snoop Dogg. Not content with being a standard fangirl, she would stay up late to listen to Pirate radio, clocking all the new tracks and artists and amazing her friends at school with her knowledge of the latest jams. She wasn't a purist by any means, though, digging all kinds of indie rock especially the deep alternative/electronic songs of artists like Björk and Emiliana Torrini. She loved the raw energy of jungle too but was less into the designer labels and champagne vibe of the garage scene – “I guess all that Moschino wasn't for me” she muses. Music was her central obsession, but when it came to getting involved, Roses was pragmatic. Although she pursued singing and started to make industry contacts, she made sure she could earn her own living outside music, ending up working in a big City bank. “I guess I just like being able to buy sparkly cardigans and get my own drinks in,” she says, “so I did my nine to five and fitted singing around it.” She was still at the bank when a chance meeting with enigmatic Gorillaz figurehead Noodles led to the 'Dare' sessions and a number one single. “I ended up a bit later getting a call at work,” she smiles, still barely able to believe it, “asking where I wanted my platinum disc sent!” Meanwhile, Roses was finding herself more in demand for dance tracks, as the bass-heavy sounds of the UK underground moved away from grime and dubstep's darker tendencies and back towards a party attitude. Hooking up with Redlight – formerly known as the legendary Bristol jungle producer Clipz – was a key moment. “I was just trying stuff out on his beat really,” she says, “it was definitely experimenting, but 'Stupid' turned out amazing, and me and him hit it off so well, we're like brother and sister now.” Further collaborations with Redlight and other producers keyed perfectly into current sounds – but not deliberately. “I never saw myself as part of a scene at all,” explains Roses, “I just like electro, I like a lot of bass, I like tracks with energy, so it was doing whatever I was into – but looking back now I guess it was forming into something bigger.” Being asked to become the full time featured vocalist for Gorillaz' live shows gave her the freedom to pursue music without distraction, and now Roses is working, working, working to build up a body of work she can call her own. The haunting SBTRKT collaboration is making waves and demonstrating that Roses is about far more than belting out big vocals but can do real subtlety too. Which is not to say she's leaving her love of high-energy club music behind, oh no: her track, ‘Up all Night’ with the festival-slaying, booty-shaking Portuguese/Angolan party monsters Buraka Som Sistema taps right into the same energy she has always got from both soca and big rave tunes. It's a fertile climate, with dance music once more reaching out to huge audiences, and the perfect time for an artist like Roses who refuses to acknowledge boundaries between mainstream and leftfield. Her experiences already have taken her everywhere from the sweatiest basement clubs to the Sydney Opera house, and she's loved it all, but won't restrict her sound for one or the other. “I don't want to make music for just a certain group of people,” she insists. “As musicians we're here to soothe and heal, and that should mean reaching out to everyone possible. Music is there to make you feel, and hopefully feel something good, so why wouldn't you want to share that?”