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On a Wednesday night in Philly,
Marsha Ambrosius is clunking around her living room with one high heel pump on and the other in her hand. Dressed in a loose-fitting striped blouse, leather shorts and lace leggings, Ambrosius is statuesque, preparing to hop in the blacked-out SUV waiting in front and be whisked away on a two-hour car ride to a club appearance in Washington, DC.
“Yo! I’m gonna miss American Idol,” she says with a laugh in her Scouser/London/Philly hybrid accent, “I wanna see what happens. I love
Steven Tyler.” It’s less than two weeks away from the debut of her first solo album,
Late Nights and Early Mornings, yet Ambrosius still finds time to revel in reality TV.
“I wonder if
Modern Family is a rerun tonight,” she says aloud with inquisitive inflection. The jovial Ambrosius is into sitcoms too. Her demeanor is welcoming, and completely unassuming. Smiling brightly behind widening green eyes, “One second,” she says to me, turning quickly to a mirror over her mantle to primp her curly mane, then sitting on her couch to face her laptop. “Ok Nieci,” she says to the screen, referring to her teenage cousin in Liverpool,
Shenice Williams whom she had apparently been iChatting with the entire time (a talented pianist in her own right, Williams performed with Ambrosius at Dingwalls in London, back in December). “We’re out of here.” The “we” is she and I, the driver and security. There is no entourage, no glam squad (this time) around, no rep.
Marsha Ambrosius embodies soul. Ever since “The Songstress” appeared as the scene as part of neo-soul UK duo Floetry her honest personality (which translates through her singing talent) has positioned her as one of the top talents in soul. At London's Islington Assembly Hall on the 24th of February, the singer showed off just why we can’t get enough of her, as few others on the music scene match her exuberance and vulnerability.
