Corinne Bailey Rae never thought she would find love again.
The 37-year-old singer was devastated when her husband Jason Rae died from an accidental overdose eight years ago and was surprised to fall for her close pal and collaborator Steve Brown, who she married in 2013.
She said: "I thought after Jason that that might be all that I would ever have. Part of healing is seeing that each relationship is a whole different thing. It’s not like you can use a new relationship to heal you of the pain, they happen independently of each other. But finding that I could feel [love] again was the big revelation.
"How does love sneak up on you if you’ve known someone all that time? I guess context is important, if you meet someone when you’ve already got a partner, you’re not presenting yourself as potential mates. But it can just kind of change one day. You look at them in a different way. It’s a strange thing."
Corinne has now come to terms with the loss of Jason but says people often approach her after gigs to speak about their own tragedies.
She explained to The Telegraph Review: "When you lose a partner, [grief] is just there the whole time, and you are always feeling those things. But it opened me up to this world of people who had similar experiences in terms of loss, who came to see me perform and spoke to me afterwards, or stopped me in the street. I feel honoured to be part of this community of grief. It’s like a code between us.
"These last few years have been about rediscovering myself and finding joy. It’s like the volume being turned back up or the colour coming back after a really quiet, monochromatic time."
Corinne Bailey Rae: ‘I never thought I’d find love again’
