Posted October 6, 200717 yr Joss Stone enters the dining room of her downtown Calgary hotel and immediately hugs everyone sitting at her table. Whether she's met them before or not -- record reps, press, the waitress, you name it -- Stone has a hearty bear hug for all of them. The 20-year-old, British soul singer is the epitome of adorable. Her long, purple locks and bright green neo-hippy sweater frame her lithe body and smiling face, but make no mistake, despite her seemingly naive and sweet demeanour, Stone is a woman in complete control -- in music and business. "I'm doing my own management. I'm never having a manager ever again, no way," says Stone, who plays the University of Calgary's MacEwan Hall tonight. "I've had four managers in the last five years and I hate them all. I think that anyone who wants to control someone else's life has some issues." Since landing her first record deal at the age of 16, she has sold more than 10-million albums and won a Grammy Award. She says she learned early in life the music industry can be a "cruel and horrible place. People in the industry think they can control you, it's not about about age either -- I've seen it happen to 30-year-old men ... They want you to believe that you need them to manage you... But, no, no, no -- you don't. It's not hard -- it's just making phone calls and your own choices." Stone says her previous managers rarely consulted her when making major decisions about her life and career -- for example, when they turned down a duet with Sting. "Yeah, man! They would turn things like that down without telling me. I found out because I went to a party and ran into someone who works with Sting. He said 'Joss, Sting really wanted to do a duet with you, record with you.' My managers didn't even call him back," says Stone. "When I found out I was like, 'Are you kidding me,' I would have done anything to do that. I would have made the time." It wouldn't have been her first major duet session -- she's already collaborated with many of the greats, including James Brown, Stevie Wonder and, most recently, Lauryn Hill and Common who both appear on her new album, Introducing Joss Stone. Since January, Stone has been managing herself and last year she took off to Barbados to write in seclusion. "I didn't let anybody hear the music as I was writing it. I mean no one -- not even my dogs. The record company was very angry, but I mean -- come on, get over it. I wanted to do it for myself. I'd made two previous recordings listening to everyone else's opinions. "I thought my first (The Soul Sessions, 2003) was good, but the second (Mind, Body and Soul, 2004) well, it was just OK." She says Introducing Joss Stone is the closest thing she has done that represents her as an artist and person. She teamed up with mega-producer Raphael Saadiq (who has produced work by D'Angelo, Kelis and Macy Gray) to fine-tune the project. It's clear from the way she speaks about him that she and the 40-year-old Saadiq -- rumoured to be an item -- share a profound connection, at least musically. "He can look at me and see what I'm thinking in my head, I've never had that happen with anyone else -- I trust him completely, he could change my style completely and I'd let him. He really hears me, and I've never had that before ... I talk to him nearly every day." Yet, Stone says the only thing occupying her heart right now is music. "It's my true love. I say this because music loves you and you can love it back and it won't mess with you. It's the most beautiful love you will ever have because it won't reject you. And if you don't like it, you can just press a button and skip the track." By THERESA TAYLER - Sun Media :wub: :wub: :wub: :wub: This only proves how great she is :yahoo: :yahoo: :yahoo:
