LEAH MCFALL: ‘Nothing I achieved as an artist has sustained me as much as faith in God’

Leah McFall from Newtownabbey wowed millions on BBC talent show The Voice UK 2013. But her relationship with God takes priority, as she outlines in her new memoir. She tells JOANNE SAVAGE why faith is a trust exercise
For Leah McFall, 32, faith comes first. The musical mum-of-two has outlined this in a new memoirFor Leah McFall, 32, faith comes first. The musical mum-of-two has outlined this in a new memoir
For Leah McFall, 32, faith comes first. The musical mum-of-two has outlined this in a new memoir

On her Twitter bio 32-year-old Leah McFall, the Newtownabbey-born singer/songwriter who was runner up on BBC talent show The Voice UK 2013, which was watched on Saturday nights by an audience of over nine million people, cheerfully describes herself as “singing weird and looking like a furby.”

In actual fact the quirky Ulster popstar sings like a goddess of soul-pop, has released singles duetting with her former mentor US DJ Will.i.am, toured with the inimitable Jessie J, worked with top songwriters in LA like John Legend and Toby Gad, chatted with Sia in recording studios and performed at the Grammy’s on stage with some of her idols including Lady Gaga, Pink and Alicia Keys, looking not in the least like a furby, but rather like the ultimate starlet with thick lashes, high platform shoes, doll eyes and enviable bangs.

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After her performance, Tom Hanks tapped her on the shoulder to tell her how much he enjoyed her performance.

Talented Leah came runner up one BBC talent show The Voice in 2013. She has since toured with Will.iam and Jessie JTalented Leah came runner up one BBC talent show The Voice in 2013. She has since toured with Will.iam and Jessie J
Talented Leah came runner up one BBC talent show The Voice in 2013. She has since toured with Will.iam and Jessie J

“It was the only time in my life I have ever been star struck,” says Leah. “And for months afterwards I would only binge watch movies with Tom Hanks playing the lead.”

McFall grew up in a religious household, attending her local non-denominational Glenabbey Church, and when not singing hymns was listening to her father’s mix of Motown, pop, jazz, folk and Gospel tunes.

She was studying and living in London while also performing at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club when she was scouted for the much-loved BBC show by the label who ran the production, and they hesitated to sign her until they saw how British audiences would respond to what they described as her “Marmite” voice; it turned out the public loved her, as too did fellow judge Tom Jones, and since then she has released a slew of hits, including her version of ‘I Will Survive’ by Gloria Gaynor which rocketed to number eight in the UK singles chart.

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Then came glossy high-production videos and singles like ‘Home’, ‘Happy Human’, ‘Bottle It’ and ‘Wolf Den’ and suddenly she was hot pop property. But things changed when she was dropped by her label and decided to move forward as an independent artist, exploring a more experimental indie sound with the release of her mini-album INK, for which she completed a sold out five-city tour (including London).

Leah with her husband Nate and her firstborn Judah (now 21 months). The couple met on dating app BumbleLeah with her husband Nate and her firstborn Judah (now 21 months). The couple met on dating app Bumble
Leah with her husband Nate and her firstborn Judah (now 21 months). The couple met on dating app Bumble

But behind the glitz, glamour, falsetto high notes and arty photo shoots, Leah was sustained not by a rapacious hunger for fame, but by the strength of her Christian faith and her deeply held belief that God has emboldened her to follow her dreams, and her powerhouse voice is not so much a marketable product as a gift from above that was given to her that she might find and spread joy.

Now married to Nate, an “extremely handsome, extremely funny and witty guy who cooks a mean Indian” who she met on dating app Bumble, and mum to Judah (21 months) and her daughter Nova, who came into the world via caesarean section just several weeks ago, the singer has just published a memoir about her faith and her experiences in the music industry entitled More Trust: Giving Your Dreams To The Trustworthy One which reads as a beautiful and powerful testament to the peace and strength that Christian belief can engender, even amidst the most difficult circumstances.

“I come from a church background and even during The Voice and everything I was part of a church in London called Hill Song and my church here at home which is Glenabbey where I still would have led worship. I have always been very rooted in my faith and it has been and remains absolutely central to my life. I was asked to speak at a Hill Song conference in 2017 at the 02 Arena in London in front of 20,000 people and I’d never spoken in any kind of church setting before, so I was sufficiently nervous.

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“I was then approached by a Christian publisher to write about my time as an independent artist and on The Voice and how I felt God had basically carried me through that.”

Cute as a button: Leah grew up in a deeply Christian family in a house were music of all kinds was always in the airCute as a button: Leah grew up in a deeply Christian family in a house were music of all kinds was always in the air
Cute as a button: Leah grew up in a deeply Christian family in a house were music of all kinds was always in the air

McFall hesitated for a few years before sitting down to pen her faith memoir while on maternity leave with her first born, not realising she would struggle to complete the script since mostly all newborns do is cry.

“The politics of the music industry and being signed to a label was largely a negative experience, but I wanted to show how my Christian faith had guided me through this. I wasn’t treated well in the industry, but I knew so many artists who were more talented than me who were treated even more callously, having whole albums shelved.

“I wanted to tell others that as an artist you have a gift from God, because sometimes you can feel like simply a product to be marketed. But I wanted to make the point that I knew my musical talents and those of others are God-given, nobody can take that away from you and it is not curtailed or defined by any signed contract. I know that God wanted me and still does, to enjoy the musical ability he gave me and to find joy in it and to share that joy with others.”

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She added: “Though a lot of what I experienced as an artist was amazing, actually none of that was as sustaining as faith in God. We are taught to believe that there is one thing or goal that we should set our minds to in life and that if we do not achieve it we are made to feel a failure. But, actually, throughout scripture God always reminds us that he is interested in the journey that we are on, with all its highs and lows, and is with us throughout that.”

Her mother Ruth instilled a love of scripture in her from an early age, and as she outlines in the book, it was her faith that held her up through the devastation of her parent’s separation that blighted her adolescence and the untimely loss of her sister Rebekah in a road accident when she was aged just 19.

“A lot of people have experienced parental separation, which is incredibly painful. My Dad decided to leave, but my Mum instilled in us that God was with us in that hardship. I saw very much that my Mum found incredible strength and refuge in her Christian faith when my father left.

“When my sister Rebekah died at the age of 19 it was the absolute promise in God that I know that I will see her again that held me up and I completely believe that. I realised that tragedy was not what God had intended us to experience, but that we have free will, bad things happen in the world, and He is there to console us throughout.”

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As McFall outlines, she very much considers the act of having faith in God as a trust exercise, akin to falling backwards and trusting that your friend will catch you.

“There are lots of things that happen in our lives that cause us either to forgo trust in God completely but I think what you have to do is make what I call a ‘trust fall’ into God’s arms, as though you know a friend is standing behind you he will catch you when you fall, preventing you from hitting rock bottom. Faith is a trust exercise. It is not easy, but I believe in it.”

‘WHY I GIVE MY DREAMS TO THE TRUSTWORTHY ONE’

In this increasingly secular age, the Bible is often derided and dismissed. But for Leah it is a source of wisdom and spiritual sustenance.

“There are a lot of negative connotations around the Bible and a lot of it in my view is from a level of misunderstanding of the Word of God. A lot of people have different interpretations, views that it is dated and excluding. But I find scripture beautiful.”

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The multi-talented mum-of-two added: “God created us, adores us and takes so much joy in our creation. If we have gifts and we should use them to honour him - it is all for the glory of God. It is not a restrictive thing. If anything God has opened up my dreams and emboldened me to pursue them by having faith.

“God has coloured the lines outside of my dreams in many ways. My book is about trusting God with your dreams and hopes.”

‘EVEN IN THE BAD TIMES, HAVE FAITH, KEEP GOING AND TRUST IN THE LORD’

Trough many see prayer as prescriptive, Leah thinks of it more as being in conversation with a heavenly father.

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“I would talk to him in the way you would talk to a friend or a parent or a caregiver or someone you simply love. Sometimes it might be a three second prayer, ‘God, help me find the words here’.”

Not that it is always easy - and certainly her parents’ separation and the tragic loss of her sister Rebekah were dark times when she could simply have denied His existence and lost hope.

“There have times I have been on my knees while praying and times where I have been a little bit more angry. In awful times I always ask my Mum Ruth who coped so well with the end of her marriage and the loss of her daughter - and she told me that she begins by thanking God for all the things in her life that are really small.

“And then she realised she had so much to thank Him for, she actually couldn’t stop. She would thank him for how beautiful the sky was, and within five minutes she was so overwhelmed with thankfulness.”

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McFall understands that while it is easy to practice gratitude in life when things are going well, when the chips are down and it is hard to see the light, perhaps when we are mired in grief or swamped by all kinds of difficulty, in those moments, God can seem so far away and we may doubt Him altogether and feel we are praying into a silent void instead of into the ear of a divine creator.

She added: “When you are heartbroken and only see darkness that is the challenge. But I do feel that we are here to worship Him and that is when we are the most peaceful and free.

“Even at times when I have found it so hard to say anything to God, like when I was grieving my sister, and I was just so sad, just even going to church and worshipping with words other people had written or closing my eyes around a congregation, that is when I have felt the most peace in trying to connect with the Creator who made us.”

“God hasn’t asked us to be perfect. In fact, he knows we are fallible and that we fall and still he loves, adores and forgives us.

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“Mostly my memoir is for people who want a dream and maybe it hasn’t it worked out - but there are seasons ahead, and what I’m saying is have faith, keep going and, above all things, trust in God.”

Q&A: ‘NATE AND I WERE THROWN OUT OF A BAR FOR SNOGGING ON OUR FIRST DATE’

Tell us some of your earliest childhood memories?

Asking to sing a solo in church. I didn’t get it. But from a young age, about five or six, I just wanted to be up there on stage. I don’t think that made me entirely likeable.

I grew up in Carnmoney and we were always making huts, making up dance routines and doing performances where we would invite our parents in and try to make them pay an entrance fee.

What kind of music did you listen to growing up?

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My Dad was a great singer and he was always playing music in our house and it could be everything from Michael Jackson to Gospel music.

Your ideal way to spend a day outside of lockdown restrictions?

I’m at a different season in life now, so I love my weekends with my husband and my kids. I would like to get up, take the dog for a walk somewhere along the beach, and then do an activity with the children like heading to Streamvale Farm. Once the kids are in bed then I’d like to maybe just chill with some friends, food and wine.

Who in your life makes you laugh the most?

Probably my husband. He’s extremely funny, very witty and extremely handsome, so it all worked out pretty well.

Who is your best friend?

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Again, Nate. We met on the dating app Bumble. I called myself ‘Sally Ann from Japan’ on there. But I came back home to meet him from London for the weekend and we went to The Errigle on the Ormeau Road and were kicked out for snogging and obviously he worked out I’m not Sally Ann from Japan but Leah from Newtownabbey. We’ve been together six years, are now married and have two children - we moved fast.

What is the secret to your longevity?

We really are best mates. We knew as soon as we met that we had the same sense of humour. We respect each other and are faithful to each other. We just fit together.

What music do you like to listen to in your downtime?

R&B is a big passion of mine. I love Daniel Caesar and Gibeon. I am always fighting with Alexa when she doesn’t understand the names of the R&B artists I want played.

Favourite book?

All the Harry Potter books by JK Rowling.

Favourite film?

About Time, a beautifully romantic film directed by Richard Curtis.

Can you describe yourself in three words?

Funny, sensitivesarc, astic.

Love is...Necessary.

The meaning of life is...To worship God.

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More Trust: Giving Our Dreams To The Trustworthy One by Leah McFall is published by SPCK publishing and available to order online now. Visit www.spck.org.uk.

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