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Page 1 of 6  Many people nowadays are reluctant to travel using public transport and kind of settle for walking the distance and who can blame them with the recent events rocking the capital… However on this particular day nothing was going to stop my passage from deep South London to even deeper East London (believe me it was long…) where a date with this elusive songstress awaited me.
With the help of my compass and map, I turned up with precise timing at our meeting point which also happened to be Ray Hayden’s treasured Opaz Studio’s, established in the early nineties and is a well known production base for many UK artists.
Now you can be forgiven for not remembering the name ‘Martine Girault’ who hit the UK R&B scene also around the early nineties, but I can confidently bet you a tenner (ok maybe a fiver cos times are kinda tough…) that one spin of her hit single ‘Revival’ would instantly get most of you up out your seats trying to style it like “Ohhh that Martine Girault…”
Her single ‘Revival’ became a big underground club hit in the early 90’s, and reached number 37 in the pop charts achieving commercial success. In 1997 Martine then completed her first album also entitled ‘Revival’ but shortly after that Martine disappeared leaving only a hit record and nothing else, not even her name… So I know most of you, like me are keen to find out what happened back then and after all this time how she plans to make her comeback…
Upon meeting Martine in the studio entrance I was immediately made to feel welcome with her wide lustrous smile and warm presence, we then proceeded downstairs to the basement studios where I also met Ray, who was setting up the band’s rehearsal area, and with only 1 hour until they arrived, I knew I had to get straight down to business with Ms Girault…
Chris: It’s a pleasure to meet you Martine, what first influenced you to start singing?
Martine: Well, at the very very beginning I started singing in New York City on Broadway, I came from a theatre background and I’ve been singing professionally since I was about 10 years old. My first stage appearance was called ‘The Wiz’.
Chris: So did you go to an academy or performing arts school?
Martine: I went to the High School of Music and Arts, the school that ‘Fame’ was based on…
Chris: Did they base any characters on you?
(We both laugh…)
| | Martine: No… but that’s how I got started and I always wanted to sing, so my start was in theatre. I wouldn’t say it was an accident but in a way it wasn’t really my intention to be a solo singer in R&B music.
| Martine Girault 1993
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To cut a long story short, I ended up singing with a group called the ‘Platters’ from the 60’s and they toured England a lot, so that’s what brought me to England to begin with and while I was here, I met people including fellow Americans and started doing background singing and sessions with them.
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