Sonja Kristina Story - Interview by Mark Powell
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- Опубликовано: 17 окт 2024
- After coming to prominence as a performer in the hippie musical Hair, former teenage folk-singer Sonja Kristina became front woman of British progressive rockers Curved Air. Their classical-influenced music, fronted by Sonja and violinist Darryl Way, was a sensation and made them leaders in the post-Beatles rock boom. She tells the fascinating story of her late Sixties/early-Seventies stardom, which was followed by marriage to Police drummer Stewart Copeland, a spell in the wilderness and a return to her roots as a folk performer. Added to this are tales of Swinging London, a tryst with Donovan and some fascinating insights behind the façade of the entertainment scene, all recounted with passion and humour.
Interview originally recorded in 2008.
Late to the party, but a HUGE Curved Air fan, here. I think if I had to choose a favorite recording, it would be "Easy". Epic1
Perfect blend of concise well composed short songs with insanely equally inspired improv and composition based epics!! Dear God! Their first four albums alone are PERFECTION! 5⭐️
In my opinion, one of the greatest voices in rock !!!!! Would love to have seen them live:)
You still can....on tour next month. My son is the new guitarest.
They were brilliant; saw them last about ten years ago in South London and they were still brilliant!
Wonderful interview, so unusual for an interviewer to let an artist speak freely, hats off you both.
Back when I first found the new social site Myspace, I contacted her and we communicated for a while just before the C.A. reunion. She was very much like herself here. Perfect! Also I love when talks about the era. So blessed to be young and in the scene during the late 60's/70's
I saw the band a few times in 1976 or thereabouts....I was an awed teenager and in love with Sonia!
Curved Air topped the bill at my Fresher's Ball (4/10/71). Sonja and the rest of the band were first class. A great evening which I still remember after countless other great evenings which have faded from memory !
she Is Amazing!! One of thee Last of the True Flower Child. Shes like one of the most Beautiful women-Ever!
💕CurvedAir💕
Thank you Sonja is one hell of a lovely lady!!!
Is she very wealthy?
Curved Air is SOOOO UNDERRATED
Underrated by whom?
I don't know ONE other person who remembers them, now. HIGHLY rated by those who know, though.@@hekakain4108
No they're not
I've loved her voice since I bought the Curved Air albums in the 70s. I saw them perform at the Philharmonic Hall in Liverpoool, an incredible gig! The surround sound in Vivaldi near made your head explode!
😮
Awesome interview! Just got into Curved Air and am taken by her totally! Talent pure and simple.
I loved Curved Air in the 70's, especially loved Sonja's voice. Wonderful to see they have regrouped and are reviving some of their old songs. Sonja you are looking good girl :)
Johnny Silver! God, I remember him, Son. Good interview. It is so rewarding to hear someone who is so nicely spoken and articulate. Curved Air played some very fine music and, of course, I have a huge fondness for Air Cut with my best and oldest friend Mike Wedgwood on bass and vocals. And Sonja, I also remember The Piccadilly Line, for heaven's sake! CA's loveliest songs are probably Jumbo from CA 2 and Easy from Air Cut.
I love the way the interviewer really starts to squirm during the last 20 minutes. Haha. I'm glad the interview was allowed to run it's course, I enjoyed the stories! :)
Very articulate lady, charming and honest - with a great memory! Curved Air made some unique records too.. Intriguing stuff.
What a cool cat! So good that this has so many views. She's amaaaaaazing!
Great interview. Brit accents are the best!
What an engaging woman! This must be the easiest interview this bloke ever had!
I love that she brings Badalamenti and Twin Peaks into the discussion towards the end! :) I love the Twin Peaks soundtrack. Brilliant. Really enjoyed this! Thanks uploader!
WOW!! I adore her! Thanks!!!
So wonderful!!! Thanks for the share.
Grandma Mary
amazing interview. had several time sthe joy to meet her and Paul and kit chris and the rewst of the band on several palces i n egrmabny and the uk. they are really amazign lobely people very grounded and still very good in that what they play and sing..greetz from germany Iain the hawk, spacezine, hawkzine + schroedinger's cat
saw her perform last night in penzance cornwall she and curved air were awesome her voice is as powerful as ever
😮
I saw the same concert at Pirates world in holly wood Florida. To this day one of the top concerts I have seen The lead singer of curved air had everyone on their feet and Jethro tull ripped aqualung with Clive Bunker, one of his last concerts before leaving Tull. Not bad for my first concert.
My firsy Concert: Curved Air at The Royal Festival Hall,South Bank London in 1971/2 and I lived just 2/3 miles away in The Elephant and Castle.Great memories of rushing to the front of the stage with Peace and Love signs. Then 2 days later off to watch Millwall which was anything but Peace and Love. They say " variety" is the spice of life ! lol
I bought a Curved Air album, back in the early 70s',had a load of graphics all over it that messed up Sonjas' voice...demanded an exchange for pure black vinyl so I could her her. Remember seeing her on the Hastings Pier...she was so hot....Daryl and the rest were using see-through Yamaha stuff at the time. This sort of "rambling" I could listen to for ages. When I was at college, along with the obligatory Fonda/Hopper poster on the wall, there was a middle page from the NME.....Sonja...gorgeous
I wish I'd kept my picture disc. It'd be a great addition to my wall, now. I had both pressings.
Interesting interview, open and honest. Being born in the mid 70's Curved Air were before my time. But I got into progressive music in the 90's and got into them around then. I recently bought the Sonja Kristina Anthology double cd; and its very good. I was expecting it probably won't be as good as Curved Air; but there is some very strong stuff on there! Good album.
I've loved Sonja ever since I bought 'Second Album' in 1973. A totally stunning lady.
Amazing singer whom I had the luck to see in the early 70s with Curved Air.
It's great to hear her speak of all the musical people she has met. I've only met Lemmy/Hawkwind, Queen, Pete Agnew (Nazareth).
Wonderful to see Curved Air back, in my opinion they were a vastly underated band!! Had a few of their albums in the 70's, the best being "Air Cut" and "Phantasmagoria" Love this band, Sonja Kristina still beautiful as ever, a big welcome back !!!!!!!!
One of the most underrated singers in British music history.
Nice....Tanxx!
Sonja Kristina is a Legend...!
Hi Total respect, I have most of your albums , Back street love should be revamped and released in all kinds of format so everyone can get to hear the cool folk rock that was great for me. I have only just come across
I saw them I think in 1971 at the Indianapalous, IN rock fest I though they were great and did buy their album at the time. 44 years is long time to remember...I the the poster for that event here. Don't remember much else about them...
Mark Powell is an extremely good interviewer.
Agreed.
in damn fine shape...
She's aged quite well!
I used to have the Curved Air album with the fancy print on the disc. I think it was a very limited edition. It was stolen from me many years ago at a party that I had. At the time, it was claimed to be the first printed disc.
OMG! You must have been gutted.
Picture discs go all the way back to the '40s, at least. Vogue records were almost exclusively pic discs.
Back in the day, I was ht for Sonja. I'm too old now. She probably is too ! Did Stewart Copeland play with these guy's at one time ?
SnappyKat9 i believe she was married to him
Yeah, Copeland played with these cats, a real backstabber, after band gigs he used to send anonymous letters to the UK music press stating how great the drummer was. He was always ahead of the beat, couldn't help himself, even in the police they couldn't help him, that's why Sting knocked him out, I mean he'd make Nad Sylvan angry, and that's saying something. If it wasn't for that he'd be half way tolerable, that CIA background really screwed him up for life, we really should show the dude some sympathy.
Yeah, I would have liked to see this concert, is Sonja still playing now?
Hi Total respect, I have most of your albums , Back street love should be revamped and released in all kinds of format so everyone can get to hear the cool folk rock that was great for me. I have only just come across this site and found it very interlesting.RESPECT.
Saw them at kelvin hall Glasgow,amazing!!!
😂
If this is a 2008 interview this woman is really one of a kind, she was a gorgeous 59 year old here, what elixir of life is she drinking every morning? Even now she looks great at 70 years old, What the hell!!
Saw Curved Air in 1974 (or thereabouts) and loved every minute. Sonja was wearing a crocheted dress without any underwear. Oh God, was she hot. Still not bad 38 years later!
dawhandle hell I would kill to witness that
Wow. Kept her looks. Hoo-ah.
@scotchrumour @josefresko Copeland was romantically involved with Curved Air vocalist Sonja Kristina beginning in 1974, and they were married from 1982 to 1991. Copeland adopted Kristina's son Sven from a prior relationship, and they had two more sons together, Jordan and Scott.
Interesting video - thanks.
It was brought to my attention that a troll pretending to be me had made some not nice comments about Curved Air and their members. It was not me and I had them deleted. I played bass on the 1975 Live album. I have no criticisms of these good folks. If you see any other comment supposedly by me, it is another troll. Those two comments showed a twitter account hashtag. I've never ever had a twitter account. There was a nasty anti-Semitic account set up by a troll that took me a year to have it taken down. I'm so sorry if anyone took this cowardly troll serious as something I would have said. Curved Air all are some of the most talented and nicest people in the world. God bless. Phil
I love what she says about shamanism around 36:10, and how her role was to engage the audience, and exorcise her own demons, and the crowd's through their performances. :)
Best wishes Sonja from Farmer Peter
For more than just a while- they started dating in 1974, were married from 1982-1991, and had two sons together as well.
Funny, I am also a fan of Buffy St,Marie and Roger Chapman, Wonderfull times.
Half expected the interview to do an Alan partridge on us. Similar mannerisms lol
PS My daughter played the Troubadour recently ......
Now you tell me ! Beaverwood Club is 3 miles from where I now live ( having joined the mass exodus from Inner London to the London Suburbs in the 1980's ) and my friend part owns the Beaverwood Complex !
love from sham and vinny shaftsbury see you in Newcastle xxx
When was this filmed?
This was a recent interview; the band has been touring again this year.
Condence it to 15 minutes (of fame).
Also, love her Essex accent and cannot remember whereabouts in Essex she came from, it can't be that embarrassing?
She's from Brentwood.
And she hasn't got an Essex accent.
her accent isn't essex. it's southern english middle class. not saying that's good or bad, just how it is
My accent is "Southern English Middle Class", though no such demotic is recognised. Her accent is very affected and she seems self-conscious of it.
Essex straddles quite a variety of brogues. From East End "overflow" in the western larger cites to almost East Anglian in the east. Compare Billericay to Burnham-on-Crouch. I put her in the "affected (slightly polished-up over the years, but not nearly as much as most women do, to shake of their roots) overflow" category. I agree, this is neither bad or good, but grates on the ear. Maybe I'm a snob.
+youandwhosearmy? , i daresay it's very good, because it can be easily understood by a learner of english like me ;-)
The first few minutes didn't interest me, but then she has very interesting things to say about being in the musical "Hair". I'll have to come back soon to hear what she says about the early days of Curved Air.
@SteffanLlwyd You left before Rory Gallagher, Led Zeppelin, George Melley? I can't remember the support band either...I do remember Sonja Kristina had a hole in her stockings/tights though. I may have been there after you - 74-78 (or was it 75 - 79? - like the 60s, if you can remember, then you weren't there!) - saw Slade too - had never been a fan of theirs but thought their live performance was fabulous - they gave it absolutely everything
Oh dear I was being tautologous there, I wonder if any snobs noticed?????
kohnhed ? Are you Phil Kohn, fantastic bass player ? Great to see you here on RUclips.
@SteffanLlwyd Thought it was after they released Midnight Wire - so must have been 1975 - I was there too - in the Great Hall (if that is what it was called on the top of the hill campus) as usual only disgusting Newcastle Brown Ale to drink - but Curved Air were superb
I agree dude,do you not realise that sonya Christina is the wife of stuart Copeland but Isaw her in the seventies I CARDIFF and she was fantastic with DARRYL WAY cool man!
pete butterworth She USED TO BE married to Stewart Copeland. I love her voice & her style! "Curved Air" had an advanced sound. So glad I saw this.🤘
Still nice looking in this.
Great interview but am I the only one that can hear whispering every now and then
Don't think she was married to Stewart Copeland. He was drummer in Curved Air at one time and I believe they lived together and were an item at the time. I recall seeing them at the Roundhouse, probably in 1976, watching Greenslade (whose bassist, Tony Reeves, was also in Curved Air) and they certainly looked like a couple.
I can't believe Stewart Copeland got divorced of her, she is very beautiful!!!!!!!!!!
@kohnhed Ahhh, So you came into playing bass with Curved Air thru Daryl Way ?
I did. I auditioned for Darryl while he was putting a new band together after being signed by Miles Copeland. BTW- The two comments that have now been deleted were trolls. It wasn't me. I've never had a twitter account.
i don't think we watched the same video interview.
she was pals with Mick Farren....of The Deviants....looney band.way ahead of their time.she should have set the Hoxton Spurs skins on the 'angels.
49:32 she takes a shot at Stewart Copeland... "Stewart doesn't look after anybody". At first she says he WAS looking after her, then corrects herself?
Sonja makes me sleepy :)
She has had her nose changed,not the same nose as the 70s version.
CURVED AIR Greater London gigs
6/4/13 Boom Boom Club @ Sutton Utd FC 6/4/13
11/4/13 Beaverwood Club, Chislehurst, Kent BR7
@RenshiottParrfmFyrre LOOOOOOOOOOOL....my mom calls Sonja and my name is Kristina :') pretty cool
Brentwood. The Railway pub? SC was a local Ursuline conven gal?
at 18.19 he asks his second question.am not going to wait for his third one,i could be dead.
Annie Haslam next?
I wonder what she is opening her mouth for - obviously it`s her Hands that do all the talking...
"Erm: The Sonja Kristina Story"
and if emerson isn't interested - then I wouldn't mind having a bash - as long as she can keep her trap shut for afew minutes!
Why do some faces change when older? Some stay the same. Look at Bryan Ferry.
Sonya Cristina greatest prog heroin
It´s surprising how badly educated she is in terms of musical knowledge. For example her long and fruitless search for the simple word "church organ". It shows that she never left her little pop world. It´s a little bit like her ex friend St. Copeland who is convinced that he wrote operas ....... xD
does she sound bitter ?
Good on her - sounds like she enjoyed lots of ''free love'' - many more sex partners than actual boyfriends.
Was she ever heavily into drug use?
I doubt it. Consider songs like Melinda - More or Less, or the Purple Speed Queen.
Uprated.
wonderful yes but LAWD she needs to let the guy do his job and ask ONE FREAKIN QUESTION. MAN...CAN SHE SHUT UP FOR 10 SECONDS.
@kohnhed Yeah thats great, but apart from being married to Stewart Copeland, does she deserve a "story" not likely .methinks you have an exaggerated sense of self importance curved air ? uh sure.
Hello my friend, I got trolled. It wasn't me that made that statement. If you remember...it had a twitter hashtag with my name...I've never ever had a twitter account. I had that twitter account removed as it was just terrible, anti-Semitic, and nasty. I just posted that it was only brought to my attention yesterday that this cowardly bastardo had pretended to be me. I write a cigar review blog and I am trolled constantly. I am so sorry for not knowing about this sooner. Phil
I would love to see them ot the same band without all the violin but still good