Taking a new look at Irma

They say it's an ill wind that blows nobody any good. Irma Thomas suffered a flooded home and lost her club, the Lion's Den, in the aftermath of Katrina and was feared dead for a while, before turning up safe and well with relatives 50 miles away. But the catastrophe has given Irma's career quite a boost. She sang at the all star tribute to New Orleans at the Grammys recently, appeared at two major fund raisers for the city and will be recording her first new album for six years in the summer. Irma will be celebrating her 65th birthday this year (it seems only yesterday that I was at the Lion's Den as she hit 50!) and is in demand for live performances. I'm looking forward to seeing the Soul Queen of New Orleans again at this year's Porretta Soul Festival, where the all star line up also includes the Neville Brothers, Shirley Brown, J Blackfoot, the Bar-Kays and Davell Crawford.