Shaznay Lewis is to relaunch her solo career next year.
The All Saints star, 48, has been busy in the studio working on new material and is said to be eyeing a return to music to coincide with the 20th anniversary of her debut solo album ‘Open’ in July.
A source told The Sun newspaper’s Bizarre column: “Shaznay is really well respected in the pop world because of her distinctive voice and talent for writing a brilliant tune.
“She has quietly been writing for quite a while now, and given All Saints aren’t active at the moment and the anniversary is approaching of her first solo record, it felt like the perfect time.”
A month earlier, Shaznay will play Mighty Hoopla Festival at South London’s Brockwell Park.
As well as co-writing All Saints’ chart-topping singles, ‘Bootie Call’, ‘Pure Shores’, and ‘Never Ever’, Shaznay has helped to pen tracks for the likes of Little Mix and Stooshe.
In 2019, she co-wrote the theme music for the Netflix original series ‘Turn Up Charlie’ with Idris Elba.
All Saints also includes Melanie Blatt, 48, and sisters Natalie, 50, and Nicole Appleton, 49, and they last reunited in 2020 to release a cover of ‘Message in a Bottle’ with Sting.
Meanwhile, Shaznay previously opened up about the racism she has faced in the music industry and recalled being told by All Saints manager John Benson that her music wouldn’t have been as successful in the charts if she wasn’t in a group with three white women.
She told Music Week in 2020: “I owe [London Records founder] Tracy Bennett and [All Saints manager] John Benson a great deal, they were really good to me. John is a dear friend and I remember him saying, ‘If you’d released those songs either by yourself or with an all-black female band, they wouldn’t have done as well.’
“He wasn’t saying it with malice, he was just being honest. I probably was shocked, but 20 years later I completely understand what he meant, and it is a fact … Things are unbalanced and a lot of it has to do with money. Sometimes people don’t have time to do what’s fair because they just want to do what sells. What that has done is educate people less and make black people in the industry feel alienated.
“My position is quite strange because I’m a black, female writer, but I’m in a band with three white women that are possibly the reason why I’ve done so well, I don’t know. I’m glad the lid has been opened. Knowledge is power.
“If we don’t educate ourselves, then we can’t change the future.”