Emilie Cunliffe wants to be a singer in her own right despite having a famous mum.
The 26-year-old musician is the daughter of former ‘Coronation Street’ actress Kym Marsh – who shot to fame herself as a member of 2000s pop band Hear’Say – and her former partner Dave Cunliffe but has insisted that she has “worked really hard” to launch her own career in singing and wants the naysayers to hear her sing before they judge.
She told The Sunday Express S Magazine: “Some people are only going to say I’m in the position I’m in because of who my mum is. They’ll have their opinions and I can’t change that but I’d tell them to come hear me sing or watch me perform before they make up their minds. If I couldn’t sing or act and just wanted to be famous, then fair enough but I can do those things. Sometimes, these skills are in your genes – my mum is an amazing performer – but i am my own person. I’ve worked really hard to get where I am. That’s one of the things I’ve learned from my mum – nothing comes easy. You have to continually work hard.”
Emilie – who has four-year-old son Teddy with fiance Mikey Hoszowskyj – went on to add that while she had “taken a break” from music to have a baby, it was Kym who encouraged her to get back to work and introduced her to a handful of producers, which led to her recording her debut album ‘Stories’ in Tennessee.
She added: “I’d taken a break from music for a little while to have my little boy Teddy and then COVID hit. But mum knew I’d never give up my passion. Straightaway they said, ‘We need to do this’. And I thought, if I don’t do it now, when will I? I thought, even if it doesn’t get me anywhere, at least I’ll know that I tried. Fast-forward, they flew me over to Nashville to record my music and it’s been all go ever since. With it having been recorded in Nashville, everyone always thinks it’ll
be country music, but it’s not. There are some songs that do have that nostalgic country sound in them, but I’d definitely say my music is a blend of a few genres.
“It’s soulful, it’s bluesy, a little bit like Norah Jones, but also completely different to anything else that’s out there. A couple of songs have a bit of a Muscle Shoals vibe [the famous Alabama recording studio]. There’s something on the album for everyone, no matter your taste.”