Is PP Arnold the most overlooked soul singer of all time?
For a shining example of record industry idiocy, look no further than the curious case of PP Arnold. The soul singer looks back at a career that took her to the edge of madness
Now 70 years of age, PP Arnold has spent most of her life chasing her past. For more than four decades, the US soul singer reminds me, she has been knocking on doors, calling in favours and rifling industry vaults, always hunting for tapes of the aborted sessions that she recorded with Barry Gibb and Eric Clapton back in the early 70s.
“It was so frustrating,” she sighs. “That music has been sitting on shelves, in England, Germany, LA. You keep starting from scratch. You keep paying solicitors. I started thinking, ‘I’ll be an old lady soon. I want my music!’”