Collaborating & Featuring – Imogen Heap
With
Katie MeluaImogen talks about the benefits of collaborating with other musicians, including featuring on their records where you're not the main listed artist
What's in the course
40 lessons (2h 33m) · 1 free
01. Getting started, open mics and unpaid gigs
2:52
02. Becoming local heroes and booking tours
6:12
03. Getting creative about gigs
3:44
04. Stagecraft – Jeremy from Everything Everything
2:21
05. Capitalising on your audience
4:50
06. Engaging Direct to Fan
7:41
07. Knowing your online audience and using data effectively
7:25
Lesson transcript
The Joy of Collaboration in Music
I've done quite a bit of collaborating in my time, and I suppose one of the most successful experiences was really a lovely story.
Meeting Jeff Beck
I met this very talented guitarist in a chateau in Provence when I was about 19, and later discovered it was Jeff Beck. Jeff invited me to sing on one of his records, a Muddy Waters track called "Rolling and Tumbling."
I had never heard it before. He kind of sung it to me in the studio and played it on the guitar. I was like, "Okay." I just sang whatever I could, trying to bring out my bluesy self. It was really, really fun.
A Great Experience
He's an amazingly lovely guy, been there for many years, lived through it, and done all the crazy stuff. He's just a super awesome, lovely man. So, it was a pleasure.
From that collaboration, I ended up performing at Ronnie Scott's with him. It's these random things that you kind of say yes to that eventually add up and merge into a really successful story.
Discovering New Audiences
For example, there were some Jeff Beck fans who discovered me singing "Rolling and Tumbling." He also loved a song that I played at his 60th birthday, called "Blanket." I played it on the piano at his birthday, and then he ended up playing it with me at Ronnie Scott's.
This was a song I was featured on in an Urban Species record back when I was 17 or 18. There was kind of a double featuring thing going on there.
Growth Through Collaboration
It's always fun. I believe collaboration brings the best out of me. It draws out something from within that I wouldn't have discovered by being alone in the studio and experimenting on my own.
Collaboration allows another person's personality to draw a character out of you that you might not know is there.
Other Collaborations
I've done that with several bands such as:
- Way Out West
- LHB
- Collaborations with Deadmau5
It really is a great experience.
Embracing New Challenges
Sometimes you might feel hesitant, thinking, "Oh, I don't know if I could do that." Perhaps you feel, "That's not something I do. I don't sing blues, or I don't do dance music," or whatever it might be.
Often, you find it's great fun! It's a perfect excuse to discover a new facet of your abilities.
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Meet your guru
Meet your guru
Katie Melua is one of the UK's most successful recording artists, with more than 11 million albums sold worldwide and a string of multi-platinum releases. Born Ketevan Melua in Kutaisi, Georgia, in 1984, she moved with her family to Belfast as a child and later studied at the BRIT School in London, where she was discovered by songwriter and producer Mike Batt.
Her debut album 'Call Off the Search' (2003), released when she was 19, spent six weeks at No. 1 in the UK and went six-times platinum, driven by the hit single 'The Closest Thing to Crazy'. Its follow-up 'Piece by Piece' (2005) topped charts across Europe and featured her signature song 'Nine Million Bicycles'. In 2006 she earned a place in the Guinness World Records book by playing the deepest underwater concert ever staged, 303 metres below sea level on a North Sea gas platform.
A remarkable run of top-ten albums followed — 'Pictures' (2007), the William Orbit-produced 'The House' (2010), 'Secret Symphony' (2012) and 'Ketevan' (2013) — as Melua refined a sound that moves effortlessly between jazz, folk and classic pop songwriting. 'In Winter' (2016), recorded in Georgia with the Gori Women's Choir and produced by Melua herself, revealed a new depth to her artistry.
Her recent work is her most personal: 'Album No. 8' (2020) and 'Love & Money' (2023) drew some of the strongest reviews of her career, and 'Live at the Royal Albert Hall' (2024) celebrated two decades at the top of British music. She remains a captivating live performer, touring extensively across Europe and beyond.
