Your mother died last February. Is your relationship to the UK much different now that she has gone? My ties with this country are definitely less now that my Mum has died. I don‘t love this country any less than l did before my Mum’s death, but when you lose a parent, even if you loved them very much, it gives you a different perspective. It’s hard to decipher if that’s because she’s gone or because there are too many memories here.
I’m starting to be grateful for her life rather than being upset about her death. She was a great mum and l was lucky to have her for a mum. I went through denial – not that I didn’t get really upset. I got really upset. It was just as harrowing for me as it was for the rest of my family. But I worked like a demon. I was in the studio doing a remix of “Star People” two days after she died. Almost in defiance. Because I do genuinely believe that my mum would have done something very special under different circumstances and I think I was her outlet, genetically. And then l did that single “Waltz Away Dreaming,” which was about her. I had this rush of musical energy that I was trying to express – trying to make as much noise as I could with what she had given me.