Singer Joss Stone poses at a party to kick off her 2007 U.S. tour, at the Roosevelt Hotel in Los Angeles, Thursday, Aug. 23, 2007. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
Singer Joss Stone poses at a party to kick off her 2007 U.S. tour, at the Roosevelt Hotel in Los Angeles, Thursday, Aug. 23, 2007. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

Music

Joss Stone's sequel to Soul Sessions equals it in every way

Joss Stone is back on form now, after a rough period blighted by cons, contracts and hair colour, writes James McNair.

James McNair

July 31, 2012

Joss Stone
The Soul Sessions Vol 2
Stone'd / S-Curve
****

The world loves a precocious talent, and by 15, Joss Stone already sang like a bona-fide diva. Whisked off to the US to record a debut album overseen by S-Curve Records' Steve Greenberg and the veteran soul giant Betty Wright, among others, the girl born Jocelyn Eve Stoker in Kent, England, emerged with 2003's The Soul Sessions, a gloriously authentic-sounding collection of 1960s and 1970s covers reflecting her love of Aretha Franklin and Roberta Flack.

The album shifted more than five million copies - which could have been a hard act for her to follow but Stone went on to score a UK number one and US number 11 with 2004's hip-hop imbued follow-up Mind, Body & Soul. In time, however, she found herself subject to the kind of control-freakery that record companies sometimes exert when their golden goose honks back. When Stone bought out of her deal with EMI in 2009, she reportedly spent a large chunk of her personal fortune with the command of her own career the imperative, whatever the cost. "They want you to sing what you're told and my hair colour was an issue for a while," she recently told the BBC when quizzed on the matter. "Now I feel free."

Stone here returns to Plan A, and you can't help wondering why she didn't get to Vol 2 of The Soul Sessions sooner. Teamed with such simpatico musicians as The Isley Brothers' Ernie Isley (guitar) and the keyboardist Clinton Ivey (Wilson Pickett, Diana Ross, etc), she dazzles on cover versions of the Honey Cone's While You're Out Looking for Sugar and Eddie Floyd's I Don't Want to be With Nobody But You. The singer's gravelly-yet-dulcet voice has lost none of its power, and at the ripe old age of 25, Stone - the founder of her own record label and the target of a recent murder plot foiled by police near her home in Devon, England - now sounds as though she's lived a bit. It's crazy, really, to think that she's still five years younger than Beyoncé and just one year older than Adele.

Blaxploitation guitars, funky clavinet and acid-jazz flute all figure on a lithe, Issac Hayes-like arrangement of Linda Lewis's Sideway Shuffle, and there's sweet soul organ galore on Womack & Womack's Teardrops and Stone's warming version of Sylvia Robinson and Michael Burton's Pillow Talk. This is tasteful, beautifully-framed soul music. Stone sounds completely at home and at the top of her game. EMI must be kicking themselves.

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre 6-cyl turbo

Power: 374hp at 5,500-6,500rpm

Torque: 500Nm from 1,900-5,000rpm

Transmission: 8-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 8.5L/100km

Price: from Dh285,000

On sale: from January 2022