Ava Leigh: the girl who fell for Lover’s Rock

Ava Leigh: the girl who fell for Lover’s Rock

From Eric Clapton to 10cc, pop is littered with white guys trying to “do” reggae, with very mixed results.

But now a 22-year-old woman from Chester is trying to change that. Ava Leigh has a powerful voice like retro-soul divas Duffy and Adele – but she sets it to a lilting Jamaican beat. I watched her perform at London’s Jazz Café a year ago, supporting the Seventies roots singer Freddie McGregor. Leigh took to the stage barefoot, and when she spoke between songs, she wasn’t pretending to be black, or from Kingston, or from Hackney, or even to be “street”. She was simply herself, singing beautifully in a style that she inhabited totally through her sheer enthusiasm.

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