P.P. Arnold

Y’know, for a sound and genre that’s so quintessentially American, Soul music didn’t half make one hell of a splash in the U.K. We gobbled up every scrap of it that came our way from across the pond and made stars out of many who didn’t see anywhere near the same level of success in their home country. P.P Arnold (born Patricia Ann Cole in Los Angeles), is one of the foremost examples of this phenomena.

Her whole professional career has been spent in the U.K save for her first years in the business performing with the Ike and Tina Turner revue. Once she got to the U.K Mick Jagger spotted her talent and signed her to his record label. Since then the sheer amount of artists that Arnold has toured or worked with is jaw dropping. She’s toured with everyone from Hendrix to Bowie and The Who and recorded with everyone from Primal Scream, to Oasis, to Roger Waters and one need only see her live to see exactly what those legends saw in her.

Even while pushing 70 she can still belt it with the best of them, the mix of power and tenderness that she put so deftly into classics like The First Cut is the Deepest, The Time Has Come and Speak to Me is still as potent as it ever was. One for any and every student of pop’s history and it’s present. Highly recommended.