The first song I remember hearing
My dad used to take me to pick up my mum from karate. He played Tears in Heaven by Eric Clapton in the car and said: “This is a song about a man who lost his little boy. The chorus is saying: ‘Would you know my name if I saw you in heaven?’” I remember thinking: “I don’t think he would because he was so young when he died, how would he know?” I could not stop crying for days. My mum was so upset with my dad: “Why would you play her this song? You know how emotional she is.” He was like: “That’s what music’s for.”
The first single I bought
My sister and I would save our pocket money and club together. She was older so would decide what we bought. We bought Now That’s What I Call Music! 42 and the Spice Girls album. Then my Uncle Porridge – that was just a nickname – asked: ‘What do you want for Christmas?” I said I wanted an Aretha Franklin album I’d seen on TV.
The song I do at karaoke
I try to avoid karaoke because I get too embarrassed. If I had to, I would do something that would make people get up and dance, like I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor.
The song I inexplicably know every lyric to
No Diggity by Blackstreet and Dr Dre.
The best song to play at a party
Rapper’s Delight by the Sugarhill Gang.
The song I secretly like, but tell everybody I hate
I would never tell anyone that I hate Barbie Girl by Aqua. I am unashamedly a dork and have terrible taste in music. My daughter Violet is obsessed with Aqua. Every day she goes: “Alexa. Play Barbie Girl.” It’s very cute.
The song I can no longer listen to
There is a Jack Johnson album that I loved, but I played it a lot with one of my exes so I don’t play it any more.
The best song to have sex to
Sexual Healing by Marvin Gaye. But not if you burst into laughter halfway through. There’s a part I find really funny, when he goes: “Come on, come on, come on.” I can just imagine a husband trying to wake up his wife: “Come on. Come on.” And her replying: “Oh my God, I’m asleep.” I always get that vision in my head and it makes me laugh.
The song that changed my life
My very first TV appearance was on [2000 BBC talent show] Star For a Night when I was 13. I sang (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman by Aretha Franklin. Afterwards, all these record labels were interested in meeting me, so I was flown around the world to sing a cappella for record label executives. I never thought I could sing it because it was sung by such a woman and I was such a girl. But eventually I got signed – and the rest is history.
The song that gets me up in the morning
My daughter and I like to dance around to Higher Love by Kygo and Whitney Houston. That’s been our morning song for a while.
The song I want played at my funeral
Wannabe by Spice Girls.
Joss Stone plays the Love Supreme festival, near Lewes, on 7 July.
