And Finally

Joss Stone not broke

By | Published on Thursday 9 August 2012

Joss Stone

Joss Stone isn’t broke, but buying herself out of her record contract with EMI did cost her a fair bit, she has admitted.

The suggestion that she might be close to bankruptcy stems from an interview with The Mail On Sunday last month, in which, when asked about the £10 million fortune The Sunday Times Rich List claimed she had, she was quoted as saying: “I don’t have that kind of money. It all went when I left EMI. I was flat even, down to nothing. I wasn’t even down to a million in the bank. What I had left was my house and three flats in Exeter and that was it”.

Speaking to E! News this week, Stone said: “She [Mail journo Louise Gannon] misquoted me there. The thing is, to say I was ‘flat down to nothing’ is absolutely not true. I have a house. It’s nice. I actually bought my family home… I feel safe in the fact that I will always have that home – and, really, what else do I need?”

Actually, that sounds pretty much like exactly what the Mail said she said. Well anyway, on her departure from EMI, she continued: “I have to feel good about what I am doing. When you alter what you’re doing to fit a trend or label, if it doesn’t sit well with you, you’re bullshitting your fans. [Record labels] get mad when you go off the path. You’re messing with their business plan. When you sign a contract you have to stick to the same thing. It is happening less now, though, because real music is happening now. The artist has to be happy”.

Stone has been putting her money (see, she does still have some) where her mouth is of late too. She announced back in March that she had signed the first act to her own label, Stone’d Records – Bristol band Yes Sir Boss. The band released their debut EP through the company in May.

As for how the deal came to be done, bassist Josh Stopford recently told CMU: “We were on our way to a gig. We were lost in the fog and I accidentally called the first ‘J’ in my contacts, which happened to be Joss. I said sorry, wrong number, but she said no I’ve been meaning to talk to you – do you want to come and support me in Amsterdam? Then, when she set up her own label it was like, I want to sign you guys because I think you’re wicked”.



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