Keeping Faith
Paloma Faith is remembering growing up in Hackney, before it became London’s trendiest borough.
“I used to go to a club in Dalston when I was about 13 or 14. It was called Labrynth, on Dalston Lane – that big building that had loads of people squatting in it. This rave used to go on for 24 hours. It was supposed to be strictly over 18s but we all had fake ID – it was mad!”
The words tumble out in a childlike drawl, spiked with a north London accent that could only have come from around these parts.
Though Faith is only 24, her many talents have taken her far from these local roots. Parts in big budget films St Trinian’s and The Imaginarium Of Dr Parnassus have secured her reputation as an actress to be reckoned with, and she confesses to enjoying being directed and the process of ‘becoming someone else’.
By contrast, Faith has striven for self-control over her musical output, complementing soulful vocals with outlandish and decadent performances that ooze confidence.
Her unique style, combined with vampish good-looks and an understated intelligence, have seen her porcelain face appearing everywhere – from fashion spreads in Vogue to music videos on MTV – in recent months.
But the roots of her love of performance run much deeper. She’s the first to admit that it was her formative years in Hackney that helped her develop into the multi-talented artist she is today.
Born to an English schoolteacher mother and a Spanish father in Stoke Newington, Faith grew up as the only child in a single parent family (her father left when she was two years old).
Deeply imaginative yet surrounded by adults, she learned early on to express her opinions. Her mother also encouraged her to start dancing at an early age.
“I started ballet classes in Dalston at the age of four. Class was just behind McDonalds and my mum used to get me a Happy Meal afterwards,” she remembers.
Faith went to a Hackney primary and Islington Green schools, which were, by her own admission ‘quite rough’. “When you go to the schools that I went to, you have to build a level of confidence. You have to hold your own. I did it in a way that wasn’t confrontational or whatever, but meant that I was left alone.”
One gets the sense that Faith has never had trouble standing apart from her peers. She was stylistically chameleonic as a teenager, jumping on every trend before finally settling on the mix of 1950s fashion – cinched waists, darkly painted lips and waved hair – and burlesque glamour that she sports today.
Her striking appearance might not seem amiss in modern-day Hackney, with its many flourishing creative communities, but Faith is keen to point out that she was here long before all that started.
“I was brought up here, unlike many of these kids who claim to come from Hackney, but actually come from the countryside. Do you sense the slight bitterness in my voice?” she laughs.
She once told a journalist that when her mother bought their family home they were working class, but that regeneration means the same area is now considered middle class. “My mum sort of likes it because she’s says [Stoke Newington] is nice and quiet now and there’s no crime,” she explains. “But I don’t really like going back – it’s quite yuppyish.”
The grittier streets of Dalston appeal to Faith these days, just as they do to fellow Hackney popstars Lightspeed Champion, Jack Penate and The Big Pink. “Dalston is my favourite bit [of Hackney]. When I’ve saved up enough money to buy a flat, I’ll definitely buy it there.”
With Faith’s rise and rise to popular acclaim in both film and music assured, it can’t be long before Hackney welcomes her back.
Paloma Faith’s latest single, ‘Upside Down’, was released on 14 March through Epic records. She embarks on her Spring headline tour with a show at Shepherd’s Bush Empire on 29 March.