Imelda May was “nervous” about asking Noel Gallagher to appear on her album.
The 47-year-old singer’s latest album, ’11 Past The Hour’, features a string of collaborations from the likes of Miles Kane, Ronnie Wood, Charlotte Hatherley and the former Oasis rocker and she felt “lucky” to know “amazing” people who helped push her out of her comfort zone.
She said “I’m lucky enough to know some amazing people. So I wrote with Tim [Bran, Dreadzone] and Davide [Rossi, Goldfrapp] as I wanted to focus on lyrics and melody and I wanted whoever I was writing with to take me somewhere else musically.
“Andrew Innes from Primal Scream is there, as they were in the studio at the same time.
“There’s also Niall McNamee, an amazing songwriter, who I’m now dating, who I worked with on ‘Don’t Let Me Stand On My Own’. The message means a lot to me. It’s all about being there for somebody and having them be there for you.
“Ronnie introduced me to Noel. I was nervous about asking him to duet on ‘Just One Kiss’ but I knew he would kill it.”
Ronnie is like “family” to Imelda as they’ve known one another for decades but she joked she wishes he’d spread the word about her more.
She told Classic Rock magazine: “Ronnie is like family. I met him when I was 16 and he jumped up and jammed on stage with me in a club in Dublin.
“We lost touch until I was on tour with Jeff Beck and one night he was there.
“He said, ‘I discovered you!’ and I said, ‘Yeah but you didn’t mention it to anyone.’
“So I’d just been on tour with him for his Chuck Berry album and I said, ‘Will you be on my record?’ He said yeah and that was just lovely.”