british singer-songwriter musician corinne jacqueline bailey ray first
began her musical career playing classical violin in school and singing in church
years later she would take the world of music by storm with hit singles albums and award
nominations however the immense grief she would suffer after a tragic loss almost crippled her and
jeopardized the possibility of any future personal happiness or professional success the eldest of
three daughters to a white british mother and a west indian father from the islands of saint kitts
and nevis corinne bailey came into the world on february 26 1979 in leeds yorkshire england
as a teen corinne's love for making music was solidified when her mentor at the time
her baptist church youth group leader bought her an electric guitar
with influences like lenny kravitz led zeppelin and jimi hendrix around it was the perfect tool
she needed to make her dream of following in their footsteps come true while studying english
literature at the university of leeds corinne also worked as a cloakroom attendant at a local
jazz club it was here that she would meet her future husband scottish-born saxophonist jason ray
for several years she was a member of an all-female rock group called
helen which gained their inspiration from other bands such as verrucka salt and l7 they got some
attention from their local gigs but failed to lock down any offers to sign with a label
that all changed when corrin decided to go solo and move into a more soulful jazzy r b direction
with her music her self-titled debut album hit the streets in 2006 catapulting her into super stardom
the first single like a star released the year before was the perfect lead-in to her follow-up
put your records on which went on to become her biggest hit today
it peaked at number two on the uk singles chart number one on the uk r b chart and was nominated
for record of the year and song of the year at the 2007 grammy awards by the following year
corrine's career was on fire the success of her debut album allowed her to embark on her first
international tour be the musical guest in an episode of saturday night live and take home
her first grammy win for her work as a featured vocalist on a herbie hancock album she was also
hard at work and nearly finished with the c her second album when everything came crashing down
on march 22nd 2008 seven years into their marriage jason died of an accidental
overdose of methadone and alcohol and just like that corrine was a widow at age 29.
he was found by police at a flat in the hyde park area of leeds apparently he had just returned from
a tour with his van and was looking to catch up with some friends he'd been at one friend's place
casually drinking and socializing the methadone belonged to that friend who had it prescribed
to wean him off of heroin jason decided to give it a try on a whim and sadly it cost
him his life when it stopped his breathing as he slept he had no history of methadone abuse
corinne and jason dated for three years before they married in 2001. it was at this time that she
changed her name to bailey ray she describes him as a high achiever with an unquestionable talent
a loyal and devoted friend charismatic and very open and honest to a fold
she does admit that he was a recreational drug user of cocaine and ecstasy while he was drinking
in fact during the post-mortem examination traces of cocaine and ecstasy were also found
but not in amounts that would have contributed to his death according to corinne jason would
regularly use these substances in addition to alcohol to keep the night going he had
actually stopped drinking for two months prior to his death and only started again that month
over the years jason had struggled with getting his drinking under control
some reports have said that his drinking and drug use caused a riff with his wife and neighbors even
said she would refuse to let him in to their leads flat when he came home in a state however
corinne's friends insist that despite whatever drama jason's use of substances may have created
their marriage was strong that night he had been drinking at a pub and while making his way to
his friend's place he also purchased some bottles of wine to continue drinking when they got there
his friend ended up stepping out for a moment to pick up some food leaving jason in the flat
by himself upon his return he noticed jason sleeping so he decided to follow suit and hit
the sack himself the next morning the friend couldn't wake jason and he was ultimately
pronounced dead later that afternoon surrounded by three empty methadone bottles on the floor
during an inquest authorities were satisfied that the friend was not the one who gave rey
the methadone for corinne day-to-day life was extremely difficult her mother sisters
and three friends all moved in with her for a time to help with the cooking and cleaning
she didn't see any point in doing anything so she spent much of her time doing just that
nothing she actually didn't speak for the first time about jason's death until nine months later
during the inquest the day before it took place corrine played a 45-minute set
in the club where she started her career for friends and family to thank them for their support
she featured covers of classic love songs and some beatles tracks for the small crowd
after it was all over her mother took to the stage to give her a hug
in an interview with read online she said i remember thinking i've had a really good run i'm
29 and i've got to have this deep romance that's more than a lot of people have so i'm really lucky
but at the same time i thought how am i supposed to survive the stretching decades how am i going
to survive with this actual physical pain the long road to happiness for corinne
was filled with music poetry friends and yoko ono the widow of beetle front man john lennon
she told people magazine i'd see interviews of people who'd been widowed i'd be looking
at the picture of like yoko ono thinking does she look happy and i'd look and think
she does she looks happy just the possibility that i could in some distant point be happy meant a
big deal to me after months of grief and isolation and also while continuing to wear her wedding ring
corrine began to write again the sea was finally released in 2010 two years after jason's death
even though the album was almost complete at the time of his death it features songs written before
and after the tragedy and touches on themes of love lament and solace the first single a ballad
titled i'd do it all again was written by karen at the beginning of 2008 after an argument with
her husband it's nicely juxtaposed with i would like to call it beauty which she'd written after
a conversation with her grieving brother-in-law after asking him if he still believed in god
the following years seemed to be much kinder to corrin she released an ep titled the love ep in
2011 which garnered her to grammy win for the first single a cover of bob marley's is this
love for best r b performance received an honorary doctorate of music from the university of leeds
her alma mater married her longtime friend producer and jazz musician steve brown in 2013
and also dropped her third album the heart speaks and whispers in 2016 which she co-produced with
her new love not surprisingly corrine wanted this third album coming off the heels of the sea
which was very melancholy to be much more vibrant full of adventure and somewhat of a rebirth
the album took six years to complete because after corinne finished her tour promoting the sea
she did begin to write again but realized that she still had some more healing to do her relationship
with steve whom she also shares two daughters with was happy surprise since they've been
friends for many years however she doesn't credit the relationship for her healing she told the uk
edition of the sun in 2020 there seems to be an idea that when you lose someone or a relationship
breaks down that finding a new love will fix your broken heart that will never work you have to take
your time and work at being happy again it's only then i could feel love thanks for watching
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