Joy Crookes: South London in Her Voice

Joy Crookes sings like someone who grew up listening to the whole street at once.

Born in Lambeth and raised around Elephant and Castle, the British singer-songwriter is of Bangladeshi and Irish heritage. Both strands show up in her music. So does a long list of influences: Marvin Gaye's silk, Black Uhuru's and Gregory Isaacs' roots-reggae gravity, the Irish folk-punk of The Pogues, Sinéad O'Connor's raw nerve, and the plainspoken storytelling of Kendrick Lamar and Kate Nash.

The result is neo soul with a south London accent: warm, wry and watchful. Her early singles, such as "Bad Feeling" and "Mother May I Sleep With Danger?" (both 2018), already showed a writer who preferred a candid detail to a gloss. "No Hands" (2019) moves with a looser, groove-led swagger.

On the station, try her "Feet Don't Fail Me Now" in its live acoustic version (2021). Stripped back, it shows what the studio polish rests on: a big, unhurried voice with plenty of room to breathe.

On Red Light Jazz Radio, she sits comfortably between soul and the city.