Imelda May

Irish singer Imelda May boasts the kind of enduring voice that would make her a pop star in any decade. By the time May (born Imelda Clabby in 1974) released her solo debut, No Turning Back, in 2003, she was already a nightclub veteran with a command of rockabilly and jump blues. Three more records followed—2008’s Love Tattoo, 2010’s Mayhem, and 2014’s Tribal—that solidified her reputation as a singer who, not unlike English counterpart Amy Winehouse, exudes old-school soulfulness. Accolades rolled in, with legendary musicians like Bono, Jools Holland, and Jeff Beck singing her praises. But May wasn’t about to get comfortable. Teaming up with roots-music producer T Bone Burnett, she created one of the boldest reinventions of her career in 2017’s Life Love Flesh Blood, a meditation on heartache painted with deliciously contemporary folk and pop textures. When May quickly turned around and transformed herself again into a classic jazz crooner for actor/pianist Jeff Goldblum’s 2018 set The Capitol Studios Sessions, it served as further proof that May knows how to hop across entire genres and eras at will.