I guess it all started for me in the Caribbean. I I spent half my childhood there between the age of nine till 17. I was always encouraged to be creative as a kid, you know, very very musical, very artistic family. Many, many years later I started singing, basically by accident because singer didn't turn up for work one day so I had to do it. A young engineer called Anty in the studio at the time and he'd heard me croaking away in the corner singing this tune and he said, "Dude, you should just go and give it a try." Many, many hours later, we had a vocal that worked and that was a song that, you know, I got signed from.

When the beat drops out and the people gone We'll still be there, still be there for me child When the lights go out and the morning come We'll still be there, still be there for me child When the beat drops out and the people gone We'll still be there, still be there for me child Yo, what's up? This is Marlo Roodette. I'm on Young Hollywood backstage diaries, check it out. So many influences, particularly from a soul point of view, you know, I love Sam Cook, Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin. I'm not from a a gospel background but it's still appreciates those movements and those chord changes and those great, great melodies.

And also it's it's so important for me to walk away from listening to a song with an idea, with a sentiment, with a phrase that kind of sums up a period in my life or a particular feeling. The steel pan is an instrument that is native to the Caribbean, the Southern Caribbean. It's literally made from an oil drum. You know, it's an instrument that's come to kind of symbolize my career, I guess. Beautiful sound, that tropical feeling that kind of just washes over you. It looks like a wok, you know, looks like something you'd be doing a stir fry in, it's just a big kind of dish.

And uh mine's got 29 notes, you know, full chromatic scale, so you can play anything on it really, from pop music to to Bach or whatever. And for me, even on the songs that it's it's not on there, it's still part of it because I usually end up writing the melody on there. So, yeah, it's really, really important to me. I do love my motorbikes, my motorcycles, um much to my manager's frustration, I think. Especially in the middle of a big tour. There's a freedom associated with it for me, you know. Nothing beats leaving the studio in the early hours and it's sort of the closest thing to flying really and uh yeah I've got a Triumph Street Triple at the moment which I which I love.

I will always make time, I just want to know that feelings in your heart for me After all the great times You're talking to the right person for a embarrassing stage moments. Um I'm quite clumsy so there's lots of drop mics and tripping over and, you know, a crowd, especially a British crowd, I don't know what it's like here but they love that, they love that spontaneity especially if you poke fun at yourself and and style it out, you know. At the end of the day we're we're making music for a living, you know, you can't can't take yourself too seriously for sure. Yeah, we once performed at a horse race meeting in uh the UK, which which was the weirdest and the worst place to play.

A lot of posh drunk people clambering on stage and trying to grab the instruments. It was a low point in my career, I think, for sure. The Caribbean has influenced my style um so much. I like every now and again throwing a little rude boy look down. I love my hats as you can see. Quite casual mostly with maybe one or two sharp pieces. I might throw a suit jacket but keep the, you know, the jeans and the t-shirt going. And I think, you know, we're there to serve the songs and so I think that your style should represent that mood and those feelings and sentiments that are in the tune. So yeah, it's become important for sure. Yes, yes, this is Marlo.

Thank you so much for watching my Young Hollywood backstage diaries. Peace.