It’s 25 years since Gabrielle released her huge hit Dreams, so she’s seen a thing or two within the music industry.

While mostly it’s been highs for the singer, who is making her comeback with her first studio in 11 years, there are definite lows as there is a brutal edge to the industry, one which has recently seen the loss of the life of DJ Avicii.

The 28-year-old died in an apparent suicide with his family revealing in a statement that he ‘could not go on’, after suffering health complications partly due to his party lifestyle. He’d previously said he’d asked to quit touring, but had been told he couldn’t, and revealed he would be handed drinks to keep him performing.

Avicii died by apparent suicide at the age of 28(Picture: Gabriel Olsen/Getty Images for CBS Radio Inc.)

Having had a quarter of a century in the industry Gabrielle has seen it all, including being pressured herself into taking drugs. But in a frank chat with Metro.co.uk she revealed she believes it is down to the individual and their strength of character to survive the business, adding that Avicii did not have good people around him.




‘I knew there were times it could be brutal, but if you were riding the wave it’s a case of everyone wants you to ride it and no one wants you to get off,’ she said of the tragic news that Avicii may have taken his own life after succumbing to the pressures placed on him as a DJ.

‘There was a video of him saying it would kill him, and they told him you can’t cancel your shows. Well you can. It’s a shame, he was powerful enough but didn’t realise or he didn’t want to let down fans.’

She added: ‘You need your health so you can function, but he wasn’t well and people knew that. He clearly wasn’t in the right frame of mind.

‘He came forward and said he was tired and this and that and yet those people around him were still trying to put him to work. He buckled under the pressure.’

She added that becoming a mother early on in her career – she released her first record in 1993 and had her son in 1995 – she was quickly forced to become feisty and protective, and stand up to those trying to control her life.

‘In my case I knew what the pressures were but I was feisty enough, I had my kids,’ she said. ‘There were times in the early days I was asked to sing and I had a sore throat and felt sick. You wouldn’t ask a runner to run on a bad leg. I understand the pressures but I think it’s down to the individual. Some aren’t as strong as others.’

Speaking of her own experience, Gabrielle revealed people have previously attempted to pressure her into taking drugs, but she’s always taken a strong stance on the matter.

‘When I first started out I remember someone offering me drugs and I have no filter so I soon put that person in their place,’ she said. ‘Another time I was once at a party celebrating an artist and there was another very famous artist there, who was in the toilet. I could hear this male voice and immediately I knew it wasn’t sexual, they were doing drugs.



‘And I stormed out of the toilets and this person came up to me and said ‘oh gabrielle’ trying to be nice, but I was very anti drugs.’

The singer, now 48, said it’s all about frame of mind, and that the industry will chew up and spit out those who aren’t strong.

‘I’ve had it offered and I’ve really kicked off about it. But then people learned I was just not that kind of person. You can’t sway me or change me. In the industry it’s about people who aren’t as strong. A lot of people haven’t been as fortunate as being as strong minded as me,’ she said.

With 25 years in the biz she definitely knows a thing or two, and is now returning to her roots with new album Under My Skin.

She said it’s a return to ‘classic’ Gabrielle, and that it happened by accident.

‘That wasn’t premeditated, it’s been a work in progress,’ she said. ‘On and off for a few years I have been writing material. It hasn’t had such a cohesive sound as it does now.

‘It wasn’t deliberate, it was organic. And I felt comfortable. I’ve tried all the other stuff, I’ve gone around the houses, but now I can be me..’

She added: ‘I’m glad I’ve always been able to do what I like, I’ve tried indie too, and country. It’s amazing I didn’t have a restriction, but now I’m ready to go back to roots.’


Under My Skin drops on 17 August, Show Me is out now.

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