Playing The Same Piano As The Late Bobby Womack & Worshiping Damon Albarn

The life of the British hip hop blues singer Rag'n'Bone Man (aka Rory Graham) changed forever when in mid-2016 he aired his gospel ballad Human. After years of grinding in the underground, and working by day as a carer for children with special needs, he became a pop star.

This new level of success has necessitated significant adjustment, yet Graham is amiably chill. "Yeah, it's another level," he acknowledges. "It's kinda the same, just much, much faster and everything is just a bit more crazy. I'm kind of used to it. I take everything in my stride. I'm pretty grounded. Nothing much fazes me, really. The only thing that really gets to me is things that I feel uncomfortable with. I think the more time you spend in the music industry, you realise you don't have to do everything. I've become very good at saying 'No' and not in a diva-ish sense, but in a sense of I'm not 18 and I don't have to adhere to peer pressure. If I feel totally uncomfortable doing something, I don't have to do it. Things like having lots and lots of pictures taken in a big media setting makes me feel incredibly uncomfortable, so I just say, 'No, I don't wanna do any more'. Everything else is pretty cool. I love to perform, I live for it, so I feel very lucky. Actually, I don't take anything for granted." Indeed, Graham was even happy to don a Christmas jumper as a celebrity guest on The Last Leg alongside Mad Men actor Jon Hamm. 

Hailing from Uckfield, East Sussex, Graham came up in the Brighton scene. Initially a teen MC embracing hip hop and drum'n'bass, he started singing blues at the encouragement of his dad. Later, Graham linked with old schoolmate Mark Crew, then producing Bastille's Bad Blood. Crew recruited him for his fledgling Best Laid Plans Records. Graham issued EPs like 2014's Wolves, developing his urban-blues. He asked the emerging Long Beach, California MC Vince Staples to cut a verse over the internet for Hell Yeah. "It's one of my favourite songs I've ever done," Graham says. The Wolves title-track was synced as the theme to the cult TV show New Blood.

Following Human's breakthrough, the new Sony signing won both 2017's BRITs Critics' Choice Award and British Breakthrough Act. In early 2017, Graham presented his debut album, also entitled Human. In the UK it struck #1 and is now multi-platinum, Graham proclaimed the male Adele. Astonishingly, amid the madness, he and his longtime girlfriend welcomed their first child, a son, Reuben, in September. And Graham has just celebrated his 33rd birthday. "We had a good time," he chuckles. "We had a party, so it was a lot of fun."

Graham is progressing on a second album, which is reportedly more band-oriented. "I'm right in the middle of a big period of writing in my studio in South London," he affirms. "I'm actually having the best time writing music at the moment. I've become really creative in my time off. I had a nice month off over December."

Between projects, Graham tracked vocals for Gorillaz' Humanz - appearing on the deluxe edition's The Apprentice with Ray BLK and Zebra Katz. As a Blur and Gorillaz super-fan, he was chuffed to hang with Damon Albarn. In Albarn's studio, Graham found himself sitting at the same piano as the late Bobby Womack. "He's a wonderful man, is Damon. He really is. He's everything that I wanted him to be. He's a bit nutty. He's a proper rock'n'roll star, is Damon Albarn, but he's a genius. It was really, really inspiring coming into his world and seeing the way he worked and the way he writes music and writes lyrics. He's totally bonkers, but I love him to bits. He's amazing."

Graham, who played 2017's Splendour In The Grass, is returning for Bluesfest. "I'm bringing my full band set-up, 'cause I wanted to. This probably means we're not gonna make any money out of the Australian tour, but it's more important that it sounds good! So I've got a full soul band set-up and I brought my brass players with me. It's gonna be a huge sound, hopefully. I'm gonna play probably a fair amount of songs off the [Human] record, but I'm gonna play some new songs, too, and hopefully they'll go down well."