Q&A: Laura Izibor

So why did you call the album Let the Truth Be Told?
Well, I was able to write the whole album, and in that I think you have to be honest, and I think the songs are my truths of my life and my experiences and it just adds a bit of strength to it -- a little bit of preach. I like the way it sounds. I like the way it felt, and I thought it represented what I’m doing with this record.

How long did it take you to complete it?
Well I signed at 17, started recording at 17 and by the time I was 19 I pretty much had half the record done. And then it was a crossover in record labels; I transferred to Atlantic, and then finished the album around 20 so it was a good three and a half years in total.

So you wrote all the songs between the ages of 17 and 19, was it?
Fifteen.

Okay, so between the ages of 15 and 19. Is it ever difficult putting yourself back in the shoes of the 15- or 16-year-old you were when you are singing the songs?
No. It really isn’t. I don’t understand; I think I just add a little bit to the songs, the topics that I wrote about, and they are recurring issues that don’t seem to go away. It’s not talking about you and your boy or your high school or anything like that -- they are real issues.

So you are glad you left all the songs about Friendster off the album?
[Laughs] Yes.

You have toured with a lot of great artists. What was it like opening for James Brown, for example?
That was crazy. It was brilliant because I didn’t have enough time to think about it. I was literally in school, I was 15 and my manager rang me when I was in class and he said, “There’s an opening here, a slot just before James Brown.” I was like “Who’s James Brown?" because I didn’t think it was the James Brown. I was like, “Oh, is this some sort of folk singer or something?” He was like, “No, it's, ‘Get up, get on up.’” I was like, “Are you serious?” So I left geography class, teachers calling me. I didn’t hear a thing; just walked out that door, got up on stage and rocked it. His audience was just amazing -- they wanted to have a good time, and I think as well it was one of the first opening gigs I had done in Ireland, and I think they were really tripping on the fact that "Oh she’s black and soulful and she’s one of us. She’s Irish! Wow, this is crazy!" So it was a real experience.

Did your high school teachers believe you that you were actually opening for James Brown?
No, I don’t think so. To be honest with you, my geography teacher’s a bit of a knob; I don’t even think he knew who James Brown was. [Laughs]

You began playing piano at the age of 13. What was the impetus for you starting?
Well, there was a piano room in school, and first we started having lunch there because it would be quiet and we didn’t want to go home, and then we started messing around. I had a friend who played, and I used to watch her and I was like, “That looks kinda easy,” so I started mimicking what she was playing, and then next minute that was the spark. That’s where I go on my own, and I just started playing and writing, and then I played self-taught for those two years. Then I started getting piano lessons, but then I wanted to stretch as far as I could go.

Well, were your parents supportive?
Yeah, my mother is my No. 1 support, life coach, fan, everything.

I love how strong and self-reliant and resilient you sound on tracks like “Don’t Stay” and “The Worst Is Over.” Are those values that were ingrained into you as a child?
Yeah. My mom always said that was the one thing that she was most proud of: that she raised somebody that could really listen. [My mother] is somebody that's been on this earth 40 years more than I have; maybe it would be a good idea to listen and take in [her] advice. So my mother told me to have dignity, to love myself, respect myself, to know that I deserve standards of being treated on a friendship level, on a relationship level, and it’s just something that has always kept. It’s easy to fall back every now and again; we’re all human and we find ourselves in situations. But that’s the beauty of music: it can be stronger than any words said to you. You can just listen to a song and feel it and go, “You know what? This is what I need.”