RAE OF LIGHT

When a pop star dies an untimely death, the audience knows what to do: weep, gnash teeth, and buy their records. We’ve had too much practice, most recently with Michael Jackson and Stephen Gately. But when a star is bereaved, there are no conventions to fall back on.

Corinne Bailey Rae was still basking in the success of her debut album, which sold an estimated 4m copies and won no fewer than ten awards, when she lost her husband, the jazz saxophonist Jason Rae, to a suspected overdose. That was nearly two years ago. The difficult second album could have become impossible, but here she is returning with “The Sea”. Her palette has moved on from light retro soul to something darker and heavier, drawing on her background in a hard rock band. But you know instantly that it’s her, because the songs are still lit up by that radiant voice: gentle, involving, never overdone. It could become the template we need for converting grief into pleasure.

"The Sea" (Virgin) by Corinne Bailey Rae, out now

~ TIM DE LISLE