SINGER Sonja Kristina is still truly a hippie at heart.
The only consistent feature in the career of British prog rock icons Curved Air, she still embodies the vision of the band over 40 years on.
With a UK tour under way – including a gig at The Brook, Southampton, last week – Kristina is as vibrant and enthusiastic about the band, life and more importantly the power of the music, as she was in the early 1970s.
“Music is alive, it breathes fire – particularly with the current line-up [which features fellow original member, drummer Florian Pilkington- Miska]. We are all still fearless players, which gives the old songs a new edge,”
says Kristina.
Brought up listening to the likes of Dusty Springfield and Canadian singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte Marie, the young Kristina was drawn to the power of not only the words within the songs but the passion they could evoke.
“Dusty was a big influence on me, but it was when I was about 16 that I first heard Buffy that things changed. She is not only a great wordsmith and player but she is such a passionate performer, and the reason I became a singer.
Picking up the guitar while still at school, the young Kristina taught herself basic chords and started on a journey that continues today.
“I started singing songs and reciting poetry to people I knew, and I got a good reaction, so I moved into the local folk clubs that were springing up.”
Spotted by Roy Guest at the age of 15, Kristina was introduced to legendary record producer Joe Boyd, who had an immediate effect on her career.
“I was at college at the time, but I was a bit of a handful and the college suggested I took a year’s leave to get it out of my system. Joe took over as my manager and sent me all over the country playing little gigs here and there.”
As the London scene exploded into the hippie centre of the UK, Kristina got the part of Crissy in the stage production of the musical Hair. “I sang Can I Get A Witness? for my audition, and ended up playing the part for two years.”
It was while performing in Hair that the girl from Brentwood met the musicians who would evolve into Curved Air. Between 1970 and 1976 the band released nine albums, including Airconditioning and Second Album, scoring a hit with the single Back Street Luv.
When the band split in 1976 Kristina went back to theatre, but it wasn’t long before she returned to the music scene with the band Escape and releasing her solo album.
A period of exploration into the worlds of ambient jazz and acid folk followed.
Reforming Curved Air in 2008, she found a new audience while discovering that the old fans were still there.
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