Post your questions for music legend PP Arnold
Born into a family of gospel singers in Los Angeles, Arnold could have easily never ended up in music: by the age of 17 she was a mother-of-two in an abusive marriage. But she auditioned for Ike and Tina Turner and was hired as an Ikette, fleeing her husband to perform backing vocals on tour and in the studio, with Tina becoming a mentor.
After the Turner band toured with the Rolling Stones in the UK in 1966, Arnold left and stuck around in England. The admiring Mick Jagger helped secure her a record contract, and she was quickly in the thick of swinging London as British pop and rock swept to cultural dominance. Arnold sang backing vocals on the Small Faces' Itchycoo Park and the band in turn backed her own studio recordings; she duetted with Rod Stewart on Come Home Baby; her backing band for a time were the Nice, featuring Keith Emerson; and the Bee Gees' Barry Gibb produced some of her work.
Her debut album contained a cover of Cat Stevens' The First Cut Is the Deepest which many consider to be the definitive version, while the follow-up Kafunta – orchestrated by Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones – contained another iconic cover, of Angel of the Morning, both British chart hits.
Those would be her biggest solo successes, but Arnold remained rooted in the entertainment business, segueing to musical theatre and collaborating with Eric Clapton, Nick Drake and singing backing vocals on Peter Gabriel's megahit Sledgehammer. She was sought after in the 80s and 90s dance scene, doing vocals for the Beatmasters and Altern-8 and singing the hook of the KLF's 3am Eternal. She also partnered with Ocean Colour Scene and Primal Scream.
Now 78, she has continued to release her own music – 2019 brought The New Adventures of... PP Arnold – and she will perform songs from her remarkable discography at Glastonbury's Acoustic stage on Sunday 29 June at 4pm. Before she does, she'll answer your questions – post them in the comments before 10am BST on Tuesday 24 June.
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