Phoebe meets Mr Hudson
Words Phoebe Lovatt Photos Ollie Adegboye
Ben Hudson is very, very tired. He has just performed a sell-out gig at London’s Scala alongside his band The Library and the high-octane performance has left the singer, to use his own words, ‘absolutely cream-crackered.’ Nonetheless, Mr Hudson (as he is professionally known) seems elated, and rightfully so: the gig has been a resolute success, packed out by an eclectic crowd of fans who seem to know every single word of the band’s debut album ‘A Tale of Two Cities’, and most of the lyrics to tracks from the upcoming LP ‘Straight No Chaser’, too.
Hudson admits that the night has been a big contrast to the previous weekend’s gig, which saw him performing at the legendary South by South West music festival in Austin, Texas. There, he says, he felt like the ‘new kid on the block… the audience are just gazing at you, trying to figure out who you are.’
If Hudson is an unfamiliar face to American audiences, then it seems unlikely that his anonymity will last very long. Last year, he was taken under the wing of a certain Kanye West, to whom he had cheekily offered his musical services after receiving a message from West, rhapsodising about Hudson’s poignant love song ‘Cover Girl’. Within a matter of days, Hudson was on a plane to Hawaii, where he would spend the next few months working on tracks for West’s Platinum-selling fourth album, ‘808s and Heartbreak.’