A truly singular musical force, Gail Ann Dorsey has built her life in devotion to music and its potential for transcendence. Over the course of her extraordinary career, the Philadelphia-born singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist has emerged as one of the most renowned bass guitarists in recent history, widely celebrated for her collaborations with many of the brightest luminaries in rock and pop. Along with playing bass and singing in David Bowie’s touring band for more than a decade (and contributing to several of his studio albums), she’s worked with a highly eclectic mix of superstars and culture-shaping innovators, including Seal, Lenny Kravitz, Gwen Stefani, Bryan Ferry, Gang Of Four, Indigo Girls, Jane Siberry, and The National, to name just a few. Her first solo body of work in 21 years, Dorsey’s forthcoming album marks the long-awaited culmination of a lifetime of musical voyaging—ultimately revealing the full power of her profoundly unique and visionary artistry.

Produced by Dorsey, her new work serves as a conceptual sequel to her 1988 debut The Corporate World—an undeniably prescient reflection on the state of the human condition. “I’ve always believed that the world is run by corporations, and that’s never been more apparent than now,” says Dorsey. “A lot of the songs on my first album looked at how those corporations were ruining the planet, but this record is more focused on how they’re impacting us as human beings. I think we’ve gotten very far away from living life as it’s intended to be lived.” 

In a departure from The Corporate World’s collision of art-pop and soul, the new material leans toward the elaborately composed and timeless sounds of the 1970s AM/FM radio hit parade that heavily influenced Dorsey’s early passion for music. Mainly recorded in New York’s Hudson Valley region, Dorsey’s fourth full-length finds her joining forces with a lineup of esteemed musicians that includes David Spinozza—one of her ’70s guitar heroes, known for his work with Paul Williams, Donny Hathaway, Paul McCartney, and on classic cuts like Dr. John’s In the Right Place. In addition, several songs feature drummer Jerry Marotta (another of Dorsey’s musical heroes, who’s recorded with Peter Gabriel, Joan Armatrading, Indigo Girls, and more). “I really wanted to challenge myself in terms of the instrumentation and arrangement on these songs,” notes Dorsey, who is not only featured on vocals but also contributes on guitar, bass, and keys throughout the album. “When I think of the first music that ever inspired me, it was all so magically intricate and had so much depth and dimension, so much color! I want to be as unrestricted and expressive as I can possibly be.”

The first song to be released, a piano-driven number called “(It Takes All Kinds) To Make A World,” fully delivers on Dorsey’s intentions. Partly recorded in Paris with pianist Michel Amsellem and alto saxophonist Feal Le Rouzic, the radiant yet ineffably poignant track unfolds with a dazzling simplicity as she shares a soulful plea for compassion and acceptance in an increasingly fractured world. “The title for that song came from something my mother used to say all the time,” Dorsey explains. “Instead of judging things she didn’t understand, she’d just shake her head and say those words—which to me means, ‘I don’t necessarily agree, but I’m open to accepting our differences.’ It’s one of the most optimistic songs on the album, and it feels like a good message to send at a time when there’s so much judgment and intolerance.” 

A more heavy-hearted but no less luminous piece, “Maybellene” takes on an indelible tenderness as Dorsey offers up a loving benediction for those overwhelmed by the world’s cruelty. “A number of people in my life have committed suicide, and I wanted to write a song for them because suicide has such a strange energy attached to it,” says Dorsey, who initially penned “Maybellene” before performing at a benefit for the Maya Gold Foundation (a New York-based nonprofit named for a 15-year-old girl lost to suicide in 2015). “There’s so much sadness and anger in the aftermath, but there’s also the hope that this person is finally free from their pain. ‘Maybellene’ is my lullaby to all those people, a way of sending them off and wishing them peace.” Another track featuring Amsellem on piano, “Maybellene” inhabits a graceful intensity thanks to its delicate arrangement of soaring strings and mournful English horn (courtesy of Tony Award-winning composer Jamshied Sharifi) and to Dorsey’s quietly enchanting vocal performance—an element that channels great sorrow and unbridled empathy in equal measure.

In dreaming up the lush and colorful soundscape that colors her first album since 2004’s I Used to Be…, Dorsey drew inspiration from many of the artists who first ignited her all-consuming love of music (e.g., Carole King, Roberta Flack, Joan Armatrading). “I knew from the time I could speak that I was born to make music, and that I couldn’t exist any other way,” she says. The youngest of five children, Dorsey taught herself to play guitar at age nine and moved onto bass at 14 after landing a gig in a local Top 40 cover band. When a series of self-directed Super 8 films earned her a scholarship from California Institute of the Arts, she headed to Southern California with aspirations of becoming a screenwriter, then dropped out her sophomore year to move to New York City and immerse herself in the music scene. After a brief spell in Manhattan, she relocated to London and began playing bass in a jazz band, soon gaining widespread recognition for her preternatural talent. Within a few years she’d joined the lineup of The Charlie Watts Big Band as a vocalist, eventually inking a deal with Warner Music Group (who released The Corporate World to abundant acclaim) before moving on to Island Records after being signed by the label’s legendary founder Chris Blackwell. Following the release of her 1992 sophomore album Rude Blue, Dorsey began working closely with British pop/rock heavyweights Tears for Fears, then returned to the U.S. and made her home in the vibrant musical community of Woodstock. 

For Dorsey, the experience of recording and touring with Tears for Fears marked a major breakthrough in her musical development. “They were the most incredible band I’d worked with up to that point—they made huge pop songs, but pop songs with intelligence. They were absolute masters of the craft,” says Dorsey, who served as bassist and vocalist on the tour in support of the band’s 1993 album Elemental (featuring their massive hit “Break It Down Again”) and played bass on their 1995 follow-up Raoul and the Kings of Spain. “I was also writing songs with [Tears for Fears co-founder] Roland Orzabal, which was the first time I’d been in a collaborative writing situation on that level,” she adds. 

During her tenure with Tears for Fears, Dorsey received an unexpected call from David Bowie, who asked her to join his band on a 1995 tour with Nine Inch Nails—a turn of events that later found her recording four studio albums with the once-in-a-lifetime icon (Earthling, Heathen, Reality, The Next Day), countless live recordings (including Glastonbury 2000 and A Reality Tour Live), and achieving such milestones as joining Bowie for their showstopping live duet of the Queen/Bowie classic “Under Pressure.” “Bowie changed my life in so many ways—I learned so much by witnessing his mind in action, and seeing how he gave all the musicians around him the freedom to just be their most creative selves,” says Dorsey. “He saw things in me that I didn’t even know were there, and he was determined to draw them out and to do it joyfully! What a blessing!” 

Looking back at the vast range of artists she’s worked with over the years (including a decade-long run as touring bassist for Lenny Kravitz), Dorsey acknowledges a particular fondness for a 2010 stint with her childhood idol, Olivia Newton-John. “Nothing I can imagine will ever top the joy I felt being onstage with someone whose songs I’d known since I was eight-years-old, listening to the little AM radio in my mother’s kitchen,” she says. “When I first got that opportunity, I didn’t think I could do it—her music is so beautiful, ethereal, and professional, and I don’t read music or know anything about music theory. But when I saw the setlist I realized I knew every song like the back of my hand; they were all imprinted in my brain! The whole experience was the epitome of a dream come true.”

With the new release, one of Dorsey’s greatest hopes is to spark the same level of fascinated attention she first experienced as a music-obsessed kid. “I grew up at a time when you’d put your headphones on and listen to a record the whole way through, then flip it back to side A and play it all over again,” she says. “Today there’s so much distraction and we’re discouraged from absorbing anything too deeply, and I believe as artists we need to put out material that encourages people to slow down and truly experience something.” To that end, she also hopes to inspire younger generations to embrace their deepest and most unfettered instincts. “I’d love to be that example for people, especially Black artists, to create whatever they want rather than playing the boring trying-to-fit-into-someone-else’s-expectations game,” says Dorsey. “I want to show that there is always the option of being more adventurous with your music, to give yourself the permission, and the power to go deep and enjoy the search for the treasures! That’s the beauty in being a musician, an artist.”