Exposed Vocals sits down with LUSCIOUS and talks ‘The Life of Luscious’

I Used to Chase Celebrities Now I’m Chasing My Dreams.

Leigh Luscious is an entertainment artist that started out chasing celebrities up and down the country handing out her music as she went, where she handed Lady Gaga one of her albums from her bra after winning a VIP meeting.

Leigh writes her own guitar driven pop punk styled songs, which she sings with a Lilly Allen styled vocals and she has been described by Rylan Clark as a rude Lucy Spraggen. Her songs have gotten a lot of attention on the radio as she has been number one in the Atlantic Radio request chart five times and has not left the top five in this chart for over a year and a half. Leigh is currently played several times daily on local and internet Radio and is a regular guest on all of them, including BBC Essex. She has a very strong and loyal fan base partly made up from the fandoms that she has been a part of herself for several years. Her fans are known as LUSHETTES.

Leigh released her debut album THE LOOK in June 2015 which got excellent reviews from writers, artists and musicians. The album contains 13 tracks all written and produced by Leigh Luscious herself.

In the year 2014 Leigh auditioned for The X Factor where she received two yes’s from Sharon Osborne and Nicole Scherzinger. Leigh was asked on the show whether she had the X Factor to which she replied ‘no but I have The SEX Factor.’

In 2015 she got nominated three music awards for the best original song/artist and acoustic act by The Essex Entertainments Awards.

Leigh is currently working on filming her own documentary about her lifestyle based on her self-written autobiography The Life of Luscious which she was advised to write by Rylan Clark.

Exposed Vocals: How did you hear about Exposed Vocals? What made you decide to sign up?

LUSCIOUS: Phoenix Radio in Brentwood, Essex told me about you while I was in there having a radio interview.

Exposed Vocals: So tell us your story. Where did you grow up? What made you decide to become an artist?

LUSCIOUS: I grew up in Chelmsford in Essex where my days were mainly spent climbing trees, making dens, swinging on rope swings in the farm and fields opposite where I lived and hanging out on the streets on the estate that I grew up on, playing with my friends, the usual games of balldog, knock down ginger, football, Tin Tan Tommy, runouts playing on my bike and on my skates, in the park and hanging out with my mates, not much different to what I do now really.

I decided to become an artist because my therapist told me that she saw me as an artist. I started playing the guitar when I was about fourteen. I taught myself from reading a book about playing and after a while I started writing songs. It was a songwriter that I saw myself as until one day in therapy my therapist said that she thought that I was a born performer and that maybe I should consider to be more the artist rather than the writer.

Exposed Vocals: How did you come up with that name? What was your inspiration behind it?

LUSCIOUS: I used to play in bands and I just said it once as a joke because it sounded good together Leigh Luscious. It was funny and it stood out and it just stuck with me from then on and everyone just continued to call me it, although my friends often often shorten it to Lush.

Exposed Vocals: What do you think about online music sharing? Do you ever give your music away for free? Why?

LUSCIOUS: I think that its a great idea.  I do give music away for free sometimes but I don’t think that it’s a good idea to always give it away for free. I think that people like to pay for what they want. You can’t make people listen to you or like you just because you are free. I think that there’s a psychology around giving away everything free too, whereby people may think that you’re not good enough. I think also that if you make things too easy for people it puts them off, we like to work for what we want but a few free songs here and there are good for new fans to find their way over to you. 

Exposed Vocals: Since everyone was a start-up once, can you give any smaller or local bands or artists looking to get gigs and airplay some tips?

LUSCIOUS: Just work hard and never stop. Never listen to negative comments about it being too difficult. Ignore haters, ignore them and block them if you have to.

Listen to advice only from people that are themselves successful or truly know what they are talking about. You wouldn’t train to work in a supermarket with the advice given from a milkman.

Stay focused, have clear goals and start from the bottom and work your way up to the top on your own steps of the ladder. It isn’t a race and you are in competition with no one. You want to be respected so don’t rush it. It’s your life and career, so just enjoy it because there’s not much point otherwise. If you are not prepared to work hard though, don’t bother. You might get a lucky or quick route in but you wont be taken seriously in the industry in the long run and you could lose respect from other musicians and artists, which you wll never earn back.

Exposed Vocals: Do you ever make mistakes during performances? How do you handle that?

LUSCIOUS: Yes of course everyone makes mistakes sometimes. Most of the time I just smile and carry on and most people don’t even notice but if its a noticeable mistake I just use humor.The audience love a mistake now and again because they can connect with you through it and they know that you are just human,

Exposed Vocals: Do you tour? Anything interesting happen on tour that you think our readers would enjoy hearing about?

LUSCIOUS: I have done mini tours of Dublin. I usually film parts pieces for my pop videos while gigging/ touring and was filmed up on a crane once, singing and playing my guitar while I was in Ireland. I was also filmed singing and playing the guitar along the walk through to the airport on the walking escalators. I have been filmed playing the guitar on the tube too and pretty much everywhere. I once accidentally managed to attach my handbag to my guitar just moments before I went onstage and when I was on my open mic tour I found out that I was through to my third round of The X Factor just moments before I was due to sing onstage. It was hard staying focused after that.

Exposed Vocals: Where do you usually gather songwriting inspiration? What is your usual songwriting process?

LUSCIOUS: I usually gather songwriting inspiration when I am feeling really happy, really sad or really angry, Inspiration comes usually from people p#####g me off but not always. Sometimes just situations can inspire me too. I don’t seem to need to do anything to be able to write, just  living my life and having fun seems to be enough. I am pretty much a songwriting machine. 

Exposed Vocals: Do you have a band website? What online platforms do you use to share your music?

LUSCIOUS: My website is www.leighluscious.com I use twitter, facebook, instagram and just about everything that is out there. My music is all over YouTube, mixcloud, soundcloud, iTunes, Amazon, Spotify and just about everywhere. My soundcloud is https://soundcloud.com/leigh-luscious

Exposed Vocals: What are some really embarrassing songs that we might find on your mp3 player? 

LUSCIOUS: Jedward- Ghostbusters. Gloria Gaynor I will Survive.

Exposed Vocals: If you were given half a million dollars and a year off, what would you do? How would you spend it?

LUSCIOUS: I seriously wouldn’t do anything different, I would just buy better equipment to do it on. I would buy a new laptop and maybe record in a top recording studio and have an amazing video shoot but I would do the exact same things that I do now because I literally love my life.

Exposed Vocals: Any planned studio upgrades? What are you working with now?

LUSCIOUS: Not at the moment unless a major miracle happens, I just work with an old Boss eight track portable recording studio at the moment, which is great for new song ideas.

Exposed Vocals: How do you find ways to promote your music? What works best for you?

LUSCIOUS:   I just go with what is in front of me, if I meet a celebrity I always hand them a card or a disc and just pull my guitar out wherever I go to perform to whoever is interested. I use   Twitter a lot for promotion as well as YouTube. My local press are great for printing stories about me, as are online magazines like this one, also local and internet Radio and just by  being out performing live.

Exposed Vocals: If you could perform anywhere and with any artists (Dead or Alive) where and who would it be with? Why?

LUSCIOUS: Eminem. I love his lyrics and his passion. It would be difficult to perform with him but I would love to be able to play a cool guitar riff for him onstage. I honestly don’t mind where, it could be in the kebab shop for all I care. I would love to perform with Madonna and Lady Gaga too.

Exposed Vocals: So, what’s next? Any new upcoming projects that you want to talk about?

LUSCIOUS: I have just finished writing my second book which is about my crazy lifestyle and is called The Life of Luscious and I am just about to film a documentary about me, also called The Life of Luscious to go with the book. It all promotes my album THE LOOK which I wrote and produced last year and my story which is-  ‘I used to chase celebrities, now I’m chasing my dreams.’

Exposed Vocals: If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing?

LUSCIOUS: Writing .

Exposed Vocals: Do you remember buying your first album? Who was it? What was going through your head?

LUSCIOUS: The first album that I bought was The Clash- Combat Rock.  I was just feeling rebellious, I went on to buy an old copy of The Sex Pistols and a Barry Manilow album . My taste in music has always been varied and mixed up, a bit like me.

Exposed Vocals: How do you juggle the rest of your responsibilities while trying to stay ahead in your music life?

LUSCIOUS: I don’t sleep. Its the only way that I have enough time to do everything. When I was writing my second book I was writing for up to twenty hours a day sometimes. It didn’t really leave me much time to do anything else and if I had been a man I probably would have grown a beard.

Exposed Vocals: What should fans look forward to in 2016?

LUSCIOUS: My book and  documentary- The Life of Luscious and new music, gigs and video and a few surprises. Always expect the unexpected from Leigh Luscious because I am unpredictable. Not even I know what I am going to do next.