Why Helen's really Boulding on the past

The former Totley lass was in London after a show when her mobile burst into life. "I was in a caf, it was peeing down outside and mum and dad were down," she recalls.

"I have a friend called Brian who is Canadian and is the drummer in a band and I got this call. So we were chatting for a bit and I got thinking 'this isn't Brian, Brian'. So I went 'Brian who?'"

Thanks to a music pal Helen's songs had been passed on to Adams, now also a major photographer with covers for Vogue on his CV. After clearing up the confusion the pair met, he gave her a quiff and snapped Helen in the doorway to his London home before flying to the USA for an arena tour.

It was one of the final pieces in one of music's longest running jigsaws. Across a decade Helen's become one of the UK's best kept secrets, making her mark on the careers of others while threatening her own solo break. A week on Monday she finally releases New Red Dress.

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"I love to hear other people's versions of my songs," she says amid the noise of a Sheffield cafe opened since she moved. "And I can't stop writing songs, luckily."

Last spring Helen appeared on a compilation album featuring some of the UK's best singer / songwriters, alongside Nerina Pallot, Tom McRae, and Ed Harcourt - timely recognition having written for others, notably Fame Academy's Alex Parks' hit Maybe That's What It Takes and opening for the likes of James Blunt and Groove Armada.

She has also collaborated along the way with Marcella Detroit from Shakespear's Sister, Rick Wright of Pink Floyd, Chris Difford from Squeeze, The Orb - she guests on and co-wrote the title track of their new album The Dream - and Simon Tong of the Verve and The Good, The Bad & The Queen who co-wrote on her album.

New Red Dress, released on her own Maid In Sheffield label, is a classy and well-honed selection in the tradition of Carole King, Joni and Laura Nyro, with a bit of Dusty thrown in. Yet, in spite of her influences and traditions, Helen's desire for a bold, contemporary but classic sound saw her record with U2 producer Youth.

And with nearly half a life of making music in London and Sheffield, Helen found herself having to make difficult selection choices, not least with those song requests from outside.

"It was so difficult to pick the songs for this album," she concurs. "And it's been frustrating not getting this out earlier. But it's about getting it right and out there as you want it. If you are an album-selling artist you need to get it right.

"Then it comes to a point like November when there is no point releasing an album because of Christmas and then you've got to wait until new year. There are things like artwork and all these things people don't see goes into it and it takes time. And when you've got an indie label, you're driving that."

But with the added burden comes greater freedom.

Back to main news index. Already well connected, Helen secured the services of a big league producer who cites Dido and Crowded House among his conquests .

“I was really cheeky but Youth agreed to do it. We’d met before and I loved his energy but I had to fit into his schedule,” said Helen, who went to his studio in Spain, “once he’d finished producing Embrace.

“He said he’d love to do a different treatment rather just me at the piano. It was a case of ‘let’s make a classic record rather than keeping it spartan ... keep the acoustic for the b-sides’. So we’ve got a 24-piece orchestra and it’s a big record now.

“Sometimes when you listen to your own stuff you don’t get perspective and you have to learn to let go. You have to trust and go with it. And Youth has done a great job. Some things wouldn’t have happened if we’d gone my way - I listen to it now and it makes my spine tingle.”

One of the album’s strengths is its variety and contrast, linked by Helen’s lush vocal. It’s been buffed to give a potent commercial edge, notable on potential hit Sleepwalking as well as previous single What A Fool and new one Copenhagen.

“Even though this album has taken a certain direction I like writing rock or pop. The Orb is nothing like what I do as a solo artist, bit it’s nice to do other stuff,” says Helen.

“Labels always used to pigeonhole people to go a certain way. I can understand why they do that, but you shouldn’t really have any boundaries. There’s great music in every genre and you can feel it when people mean it. I’m just excited and relieved my album is coming out - my own body of work.”

And it means she can officially bookmark her place in a large family obsessed with sporting achievement. Former ATP-ranked tennis playing brother Mike is now a professional footballer with Mansfield alongside younger sibling Rory, while sister Sal was a world-ranked tennis player as Laura played netball and rounders for England.

Helen, whose record has been made album of the week on Radio 2 next week, did a marathon last year but wasn’t sold. “Am I ready?” she says of her album. “I feel severely ready.”