The singer, who has been taken under the wings of Boy George, EXCLUSIVELY told HollywoodLife all about working with his famous mentor, & why Ariana & Miley are the pop ‘divas’ we need right now.
While most musicians find themselves a mentor when first starting out, few can say that their mentor is a bonafide music icon. Jamie Hannah, 22, is among those few. As the newest signee to Boy George’s namesake label, and one (just one) single under his belt, the singer is off to an impressive start. The budding star talked to us about his debut, “Sound of My Youth,” and why Boy George has been the most “incredible” mentor, in an EXCLUSIVE interview.
“George is incredibly generous with his time and he has taken me under his wing whether it is being in the studio with me, writing, or being with me with a photographer, or just having a chit-chat over a burger. Its all been very casual and it is great to communicate with another gay artist who has been through it. I think musically we connect quite well, when we were writing, it was a lot of because of us growing up gay, we had a lot of things that were crossing over,” the singer explains. “In terms of being a mentor, he has been incredible,” he adds.
The singer went on to tell us why “Sound Of My Youth” holds such a special place in his heart. “Well, it was the first track that I wrote, so the song meant quite a lot to me. Obviously, it was going to be the first one that I was going to release, I wanted to show the big attachment that I had to the track because it is unlike any of the others. I put my heart and soul into it and there were a lot of things that I wanted to convey into the song. “So putting it out there I was apprehensive but it has over 100,000 streams and it allowed me to break it down and do the acoustic video,” Jamie says.
With an impressive solo track under his belt, the rising star was elated at the thought of some all-star collaborations in his future. “Oh my goodness! I mean all the big Divas,” he said when asked who he would love to link up with. “I love Miley Cyrus, Ariana Grande, all the big pop females I think what they all do for the LGBTQ community is pretty phenomenal.” I mean Elton John, that would be incredible to sing with him and anything in musical theater as well, maybe we could sing Lion King together,” he says with a laugh.
The musician is most moved when asked about finding his confidence and the ability to unapologetically be himself. “That question has got me a little bit emotional. Because I wouldn’t say that I am fully confident. It really is a progression and I am always learning and more comfortable in my skin each day. I had the most incredible childhood but I am dyslexic, I am gay, there is a lot of things… I have bad skin. I have all these things that bring you down for a period of time when suddenly you are in a big city like London, your skin is a little bit better, you go to the gym everyday and you are doing what you love to do so you are thinking to yourself you know what, excuse my french but F it! You just get on with it.”