WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Rumer

Have you been “Slow” to get to know the singer Rumer? Then read on…

Rumer is the stage name of British singer Sarah Joyce (b.1979), who was born in Pakistan and was previously known as Sarah Prentice when she was the lead singer for the band La Honda at the beginning of the 21st century. Four years later, she adopted the stage name of Rumer, taken from the author Rumer Godden, as she headed the band Rumer and The Denials. After one album, Rumer joined up with musician Rory Moore to form Stereo Venus before going it alone as a solo artist in 2010. Rumer released her debut single proper, “Slow”, with Atlantic Records that Summer and it went to No.16 on the UK singles chart.

“Slow” was followed by “Aretha”, a song dedicated and written about the singing legend Aretha Franklin. Both tracks appeared on her first album, “Seasons Of My Soul”, which proved a huge success around the world, making No.3 at home and selling more than 600,000 copies. The album also charted in America at No.46 and was a top ten success internationally. 2011 found Rumer now in demand and she performed the Louis Armstrong number “We Have All The Time In The World” at the memorial concert for composer John Barry. The song was orchestrated by Nicholas Dodd, who had worked with Barry in the later years and it was through this association that Rumer got to perform a Bond song of a kind for herself. “I Believe In You” was written for the second Johnny English film, ‘Johnny English Reborn’ that same year and played out over the end credits.

Rumer returned in 2012 with the follow up to “Seasons Of My Soul”, “Boys Don’t Cry”. The album equaled the chart position in the UK and went Gold, featuring the singles “P.F. Sloan”, a cover of a 1970 song from American songwriter Jimmy Webb, and “Sara Smile”, a cover of a Hall and Oates hit from 1976. It took Rumer another two years to write and record her second long player of original material, but “Into Colour” finally made it to release in 2014 along with the lead single, “Dangerous”. Rumer can count among her fans Richard Carpenter and Burt Bacharach, who gave her an invitation to sing at his home in 2010. She returned the compliment when she recorded and released a full album of Bacharach and Hal David songs in 2016, “This Girl’s In Love – .A Bacharach & David Songbook”.

Through her recordings and her endless live performances, Rumer has built up quite a distinguished following and that extends to another American songwriter, Hugh Prestwood. For her 2020 album, she travelled to Nashville to record an entire album with Prestwood of songs he had written especially for her. Featuring fifteen tracks, “Nashville Tears” went on to top the US Americana Album chart that year. Rumer has also caught the eye of noted British producer Trevor Horn. He produced her version of Grace Jones’ “Slave To The Rhythm” for his album of new recordings of classic 80’s song, “Reimagines The Eighties”, which also featured Robbie Williams, Seal, Tony Hadley and a-ha as high-profile bedfellows in Rumer’s company. 2022 has seem Rumer tour with more noteworthy company as part of the now well-established Woman To Woman tour, lead by Beverley Craven. Along with Rumer, Beverley has been joined by Julia Fordham and Judie Tzuke.