Where in the world is Speech Debelle?
Attitude-driven rapstar and lyricist, Speech Debelle, first hit the music scene in ’07 when tough times forced a rags-to-riches origin upon her and she was signed to urban label; Big Dada records.
The future gleamed promising for our Debelle, becoming an instant sensation with her debut album ‘Speech Therapy, which happened to nab the 2009 Mercury Prize on it’s release, trumping such mega-stars as Kasabian and Florence & The Machine.
But things quickly took a turn for the worse, and Debelle’s future in music began to slip through her hands, when said album faired poorly in syndication (the worst in Mercury Prize winner history to be precise) and relations began to sour between her and her label, culminating with her departure from Big Dada records.
Although Debelle perservered, things went from bad to worse for her career as the public’s fleeting interest reflected gig attendance and she was forced to cancel her attempt to ‘break America’ due to visa issues.
The final nail in the coffin of Debelle’s carreer was this:
The most literal example of a debacle caught on tape. Ever. For those who didn’t check out the link, it’s a video of Debelle attempting to rap Take That’s ‘Pray’ and ultimately expressing that she thinks Take That are shit. This resulted in mass booing and her ejection from the concert. Over-reaction you say? Oh yeah, this all happened at a take that gig too, so hmmm… Maybe fair.
But this depressing story of squandered talent begs one question; “Where is she now?” She may have made a few misguided career moves but jeez her first album got the Mercury Prize, and (the first half of) her story is an inspiration to any young artist. After only learning about her recently, I was shocked to see that nothing had been posted about her on the internet for two years, and sought to change that.
So, for any fans of Ms Debelle, or (hopefully) the lady hersef, I ask you to inform her, wherever she is, that the music industry does not judge; and if “artists” like Pete Doherty are still welcome, then so are you.
