Mr. Hudson's lesson in love

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Mr. Hudson's lesson in love

Posted Aug 4, 2009

We were tempted to write, Vogue Italia have featured him and therefore he's one stylish guy. As we realized this may sound shallow we decided to listen to his music. The verdict? We still like him.

Mr Hudson's album, Straight No Chaser, from the UK singer/songwriter and produced by Kanye West was written in just two months in the spring of 2009 after a whirlwind tour of the UK, Los Angeles, and Hawaii (where he worked with Kanye West on 808s and Heartbreaks).

On the return to his tiny flat in North London, “My room was full of guitars and keyboards, there wasn’t even enough room for a bed,” says Hudson. “So I got my landlord to sort out a mattress for me, and I’d put it up against the back wall, it was really good soundproofing. When I’d finished recording at like three AM, I’d throw it down on the floor and jump in my sleeping bag. It was a very low point in my life—I’d thrown everything away. I’d moved out, I left my girl, I had nothing. So I had to make this album work.”

As with all great artists, Mr Hudson's depression has been translated into a hit record rather than nights crying alone, drunk into his pillow. With diverse influences from stadium-sized rock to Motown soul and plaintive reggae chants to R&B balladry, the singer is quoted as saying, “To admit to the chinks in your armor, to admit to your sorrow, is actually the most gangster thing you can do." Now there's a lesson for us all...