Corinne Bailey Rae Reflects on Life 17 Years After Husband Jason’s Death

Corinne Bailey Rae has made rare comments about her late husband Jason Rae’s death, 17 years after his overdose aged just 31.

The Put Your Records On hitmaker, 46, spoke to Billboard about how the tragedy shaped her musically, after releasing her second album two years after his death. 

The star was just 22 when Jason, who she married in 2001 after meeting in a jazz club, passed away from an accidental overdose of methadone and alcohol, having been a ‘naive user’ of the heroin substitute medication. 

Corinne discussed how she sees her adult life in two parts – with her 2006 eponymous debut album being ‘one side’, before saying of Jason’s death: ‘As well as changing my life, it also changed my career in a really big way’. 

She stated: ‘I felt like my life was divided between the before and after of [his death]’, having previously admitted she feared her grief ‘would last forever’. 

Corinne Bailey Rae has made rare comments about her late husband Jason Rae’s death, 17 years after his overdose aged just 31 (Corinne and Jason pictured in 2017)

The Put Your Records On hitmaker, 46, spoke to Billboard about how the tragedy shaped her musically, after releasing her second album two years after his death (pictured in September)

She stated: ‘I felt like my life was divided between the before and after of [his death]’, having previously admitted she feared her grief ‘would last forever’ (pictured earlier this year) 

Corinne burst on to the music scene with Put Your Records On in 2006, followed by her self-titled album which was greeted with rip-roaring success, having debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart and has been certified triple platinum.

Speaking about the divide between her 2006 debut and her 2010 second album The Sea, Corrine, who found love again with longtime friend, producer and jazz musician Steve Brown and married in 2013, noted how her life was split by the tragedy. 

She said: ‘When I look back at [debut LP Corinne Bailey Rae], it’s on the other side of… not a wall, but a divide between my two adult lives. That moment [Jason’s death] felt like the end of what that first album term was…

‘I felt like my life was divided between the before and after of that,’ As well as changing my life, it also changed my career in a really big way.’

On how she was treated in the music industry, she said: ‘I knew that I wasn’t really robust enough to be in an industry ‘capitalizing’ on the big industry success of the first record, and setting up sessions with all these big names anyway…

‘I just wasn’t in that place, and the label really knew that and I think that they really left me to it.’ 

She spoke about the divide between her 2006 debut and her 2010 second album The Sea (The Sea pictured) 

Corinne previously spoke about life with husband Steve, saying: ‘We got married [in 2013]. Loads of people came – we have a big overlap in our circle of friends as we’ve known each other a long time….

‘I think it’s amazing that you can make that commitment to someone. To me, a marriage is like you’re looking at the journey ahead, then saying to someone: “Do you want to do this with me?” It’s an exciting and heavy thing. You don’t see how long the road is.’

Corinne’s early success was marred with sadness two years after her debut when Jason was found dead on the sofa at his friend James Sheasby’s house, having taken methadone prescribed to James, who had struggled with heroin addiction. 

While Jason also had cocaine and ecstacy in his system, coroners insisted this would not contribute to the death. Forensic physiologist Professor Peter Vanezis said that as Mr Rae was a ‘naive user’ of methadone, his body would be severely affected.

 Corrine found love again with longtime friend, producer and jazz musician Steve Brown and the duo, who share two children, married in 2013

In a heartbreaking statement read at his inquest, Corinne stated: ‘My husband is my first and only true love. He is the most beautiful and complex person I have ever known. He is utterly irreplaceable.’

She then spoke of the circumstances: ‘Jason had struggled on and off for a few years with an issued of drinking. There had been numerous periods of three to seven weeks in the last few years where he has drunk nothing at all in an attempt to get to the bottom of why when he does drink he goes to such extremes…

‘It was not unusual for Jason to drink heavily, and while under the influence of alcohol to seek out drugs like coke and ecstasy as part of a night out or to keep the night going. Knowing Jason, I know he had gone into the pub for a few drinks thinking it was harmless, that he could be in control.

‘He has never used or tried out drugs sober, it was only when he was drunk that it seemed like a good idea. He has not, to my knowledge, ever tried methadone.’

Jason is pictured playing with his band The Haggis Horns