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It must be something in the water in Sheffield. From the Human League, ABC, Pulp through to the Arctic Monkeys and the aforementioned Hawley, it's no secret the Yorkshire city has produced more than it's fair share of quality musicians, and in Helen, the talent to flag another future great.

In her mid-teens, she approached Annie Lennox's vocal coach and came down to London for weekly lessons. The training tells in a voice which manages to match the power of Lennox. Her talent for penning the perfect song is god-given. Upfront of a record deal, she was snapped up for publishing by Warner Chappell.

And it was through the word-of-mouth praise for her pensmanship that Helen first caught the attention of Chris Difford, who invited her to one of the famous songwriting sessions he ran at Huntsham Hall in Devon. "The first time I went down there, I nearly got off the train and went straight back the other way, because you've got loads of big writers there. It was great though, it was like Big Brother, at the beginning of the week there are lots of egos, but by the end of the week the music gets better and better and people are crying because they don't want to go home."

For inspiration, Helen pursued those songwriters she respected. She would meet one of her writing heroes, the late and sadly missed Kirsty MacColl after one of Kirsty's gigs, introduced by her friend Pete Glenister (who himself co-writes 'I Swear' from New Red Dress). Elsewhere, she would coax Pink Floyd's Rick Wright into a rare songwriting collaboration, and has also written with the prolific American hitmaker Billy Steinberg, co-creator of such indelible pop songs as 'Like A Virgin,' 'True Colours,' and 'Eternal Flame'. On debut album 'New Red Dress', Helen has written twelve songs, centrally themed around love and longing, of the all-thrill-no-fill variety, kicking off with the soundscape smash of a first single, 'Breathe'. A b-side to the first single was penned by Helen with the help of Simon Tong, originally with The Verve, now accompanying Damon Albarn in The Good, The Bad & The Queen.

As well as borrowing their guitarist, Helen would also look to The Verve set up when it came to selecting a producer for 'New Red Dress'. Youth, the man behind the classic Urban Hymns album, was already familiar with Helen's work and was impressed enough to want to throw normal procedure aside to get involved with her debut album. "Youth and I had met and written some stuff together. I thought 'Who would I like to produce the album?' and I was a fan of a lot of his work." She knew that budgets on the self-funded project would be strict, but that was no problem. "The next point was 'Can you do it for this much?' and Youth said he just loved the stuff and wanted to see me get moving." They recorded at his studio in Spain, flying her band out ("Easyjet!") and renting a B&B in the hills. "I was sitting there thinking "thank you!"

Youth would also provide an introduction to The Orb, with whom Helen co-wrote and performed vocals on the title track from their brand new album 'The Dream' out this year.

Proving the mandate that if you don't ask, you won't get, Helen has made her own breaks and fashioned a stunning debut album in the process. 'New Red Dress' will be released on Helen's own label Maid In Sheffield in February 2008, with the single 'Breathe' preceding the album in November 2007. The net result, and Helen Boulding's story so far, is all about an empowered, all-round artist, who's set up her own label, done the artwork for the album and knows all about the mechanics of the music business. Just Helen, doing it her way... with a little help from her friends.