Tracklisting:

1. That Don’t Make It Junk -originally performed by Leonard Cohen

2. Cry To Me –originally performed by Solomon Burke

3. Cactus Tree -originally performed by Joni Mitchell

4. Some Other Time -originally performed by Bill Evans

5. Say You Don’t Mind -originally performed by Colin Blunstone

6. Alcohol -originally performed by The Kinks

7. Last In Line -original

8. My Chemical Life -original

9. I Don’t Care Much -originally performed by Barbra Streisand

10. Trouble In Mind -originally performed by Nina Simone

11. Underwear -originally performed by Pulp

12. Junk -originally performed by Paul McCartney

Ihre Geschichte klingt wie ein Märchen: An ihrem 18. Geburtstag buchte die texanische Sängerin Hailey Tuck ein One-way-Ticket nach Paris. Schnell fasste sie Fuß in der Pariser Jazzclub-Szene. Mit ihrem 30er-Jahre-Look und ihrer fast aus der Zeit fallenden Stimme machte sie sich schnell einen Namen. Am 4. Mai erscheint ihr Debütalbum „Junk“ bei Sony Music. Sie tourte bereits durch Europa, Amerika und Asien, war opening act für Jamie Cullum. Hailey Tuck ist auf der Suche nach ihrer ganz eigenen Belle Époque, überzeugt mit magischer Eleganz und einer lasziven Stimme, die irgendwo zwischen Billie Holiday, Regina Spektor und Ella Fitzgerald floriert.

ABOUT THE ALBUM

Austin born, Paris based 27 year old singer Hailey Tuck is an extraordinary talent. Her debut album ‘Junk’, produced by the legendary Larry Klein, is a 12 track masterclass in evocative, effortless, totally sublime singing.

Hailey joyously rips up the rulebooks turning jazz on its head by putting her own spin on songs by artists as diverse as Leonard Cohen (They Don’t Make It Junk), Ray Davies (Alcohol) and Paul McCartney (Junk). Classics from Cabaret and Leonard Bernstein rub shoulders with brand new songs. All are totally and literally addictive.

“I wanted to work with the Mark Ronson of jazz”, Hailey says. “So I looked at who had produced modern jazz singers I love, Madeleine Peyroux and Melody Gardot, in particular. That was Larry. When we met we were on the same page straight away. It was magical.”

It was a marriage made in jazz heaven and recorded at LA’s infamous Sunset Sound Studios with a band of veteran jazz musicians. “Hailey Tuck is one of a kind,” says multi Grammy Award winning producer Larry Klein. “She’s the Breakfast At Tiffany’s Holly GoLightly of Jazz. A natural writer and a whip-smart observer of the world around her.”

Hailey left her native Austin, Texas at 18 and moved to Paris, honing her live sound at Le Buzz and the now defunct underground club Tres Honoree. This debut album follows widespread acclaim for a trio of EPs Hailey self-released between 2014 and 2016.

Other album highlights include Joni Mitchell’s ‘Cactus, Colin Blunstone’s pop classic ‘Say You Don’t Mind’, and Pulp’s ‘Underwear’. The sheer range and breadth of Hailey Tuck’s massive artistry is prevalent throughout this debut album.

‘Junk’ is the perfect introduction to this unique talent. And it’s only the beginning. Miss this at your peril.

BIO

Hailey Tuck’s story sounds like a far-fetched film script. A teenager from Texas with a bob borrowed from Louise Brooks and a suitcase stuffed full of vintage dresses takes off for Paris with her college fund and a dream of becoming a jazz singer. An Italian countess becomes her benefactor, she wows the crowds in crazy cabaret clubs and finds herself underground jazz venues before her music wins her fans around the world and a legendary producer invites her to L.A. to record her debut album.

As unlikely as that sounds, those are just the bare bones of Hailey’s tale. Throw in a Baptist military boarding school, a brush with a member of Maroon 5 and a chiselled tap dancer doing a Josephine Baker striptease and you’re still only scratching the surface.

Already lauded for her live shows and tipped by Interview, Nylon, People magazine and Marie Claire, Hailey is on a mission to turn jazz on its head. Junk, her spectacular debut album, is infused with her powerhouse personality, her love of the dark side of life and her carefree approach to convention.

“I want to bring jazz in to today, but not in a gimmicky way,” says Hailey. “Like all music, to stay youthful, it needs to be injected with new ideas. Purism has been always problematic for jazz. Today, when all music is available, it’s nuts for jazz not to mix with other genres. It needs to get out there and have some fun.”

On Junk, Hailey jubilantly rips up rulebooks by putting her own spin on songs by artists as diverse as Leonard Cohen, Pulp, The Kinks and Paul McCartney. Classics from Cabaret and Leonard Bernstein rub shoulders with brand new songs. Drink, drugs and addictions abound.

“Junk is the theme that ties the songs together,” explains Hailey. “All sorts of emotional baggage is on there, tons of fucked-up times, which is something we can all relate to.”

Produced by the multi Grammy Award winning Larry Klein (Joni Mitchell, Herbie Hancock, Melody Gardot) and recorded last year at Sunset Sound in L.A. with a band of veteran jazz musicians – among them the drummer Jay Ballerose (Elton John, Robert Plant) and the guitarist Dean Parks (Joe Cocker, Steely Dan) – Junk is as playful as it is provocative, as witty as it is world-weary, as tailor-made for good times as it is for tears.

 “The challenge was striking a balance,” adds Hailey. “Despite the content, it’s an uplifting album. You can take the lyrics literally or find the fun in them.”

Junk is bookended by, well, junk. It opens with a flirty cover of Cohen’s That Don’t Make It Junk – ‘I fought against the bottle/But I had to do it drunk’ is the album’s tantalising first line – and closes with a gorgeous reworking McCartney’s whimsical Junk.

My Chemical Life – begun by Larry, finished with Hailey’s help – is a groovy, goofball original with sleazy sax and exotic percussion about a not-so-perfect life as a second wife. “Speedballs and cappuccino/My mother called from San Marino,” drawls Hailey in a haze of Class As, Lamborghinis and, er, rhododendrons.

The emotionally-exposed piano ballad Last In Line, co-written by Hailey and close friend Australian musician Matt Davis, has a Parisian vibe and lyrics about a lover who turned out not to be ‘the one’, delivered with the resignation of someone who’s been there too many times.

Junk follows widespread acclaim for a trio of EPs that Hailey self-released between 2014 and 2016, on which she covered songs by The Beach Boys, The Jackson 5, Fats Waller and Maroon 5. Weekly described the singer as ‘a Jazz Age libertine’; Yahoo Music made her One to Watch. Jamie Cullum booked her to support him at La Cigale and she became a festival favourite with a following as far afield as Malaysia and Romania.

Despite promising success, the ultimate goal of garnering the support of a major label proved to be a fittingly jazzy series of heartbreak. It's no secret that the evolution of the music industry has engendered.

“I wanted to work with the Mark Ronson of jazz, I just wasn’t sure who that was,” she says. “So I looked at who had produced modern jazz singers I love - Madeleine Peyroux and Melody Gardot, in particular. That was Larry. I sent some him music and he invited me to his studio.

“We discussed the stagnation of jazz and how we could use its hipster-ness to move it on and bring people in, rather than shove them out. Straight away, we were on the same page. It was magical.”

“Hailey Tuck is one of a kind,” says Larry. “To my mind she’s the Breakfast At Tiffany’s Holly-Go-Lightly of Jazz. A natural writer and a whip-smart observer of the world around her, she brings all of this, along with the world-wise and sardonic eye of a girl who set out from rural Texas to live in Paris alone at eighteen, to her singing and interpretation of great songs. Like any artist who sings or writes in their own blood, she is blessed and cursed to walk through the world with paper-thin skin, always feeling too much.”

Introduced to jazz by her mother, an antiques collector, Austin-born Hailey began collecting vintage dresses as a child. By her teens, she still hadn’t worn jeans – nor does she own a pair today. “I have matador trousers instead,” she says.

Her love of dressing up set Hailey apart from her peers – she immersed herself in books and old movies, put on magic shows and, on escaping a strict Baptist military boarding school, got a job in a rare bookshop where she stumbled across a copy of Lulu in Hollywood, about the life of Louise Brooks. Sensing a kinship with the silent film star and flapper icon, Hailey copied her infamous bob and learnt French in order to follow in her footsteps by moving to Paris.

Aged 18, she took what was supposed to be her college fund – in fact, it was a pay out for a childhood accident that had left her badly burned – and headed for Paris, where she initially lived in a squat. A chance encounter with a Countess at a party put her on the private party circuit and introduced to her a world of corset makers, miniature portrait painters and performance artists.

“Until then, I had no idea how one becomes a jazz singer,” says Hailey. “But I thought if all of these people can make a living doing what they love, why can’t I?”

Hailey honed her show at a cabaret night called Le Buzz at the now defunct underground club Tres Honoree, among magicians, acrobats and a chiselled tap dancer doing a Josephine Baker striptease.

With Junk, Hailey starts a new chapter in an already extraordinary life that is sure to spring more surprises.

“Right now, it truly feels like a fairytale,” says Hailey. “but it hasn't been without a lot of villains, addictions, broken hearts, and profound sadness. But those are the best fairytales anyway."