How John Newman's Mom Crafted the Soul Singer's Signature Sound

John Newman has made waves in his native UK and beyond with his throwback-inspired sound and spine-tingling vocals of yesteryear's Motown icons. Backstage at Coachella 2014, Fuse's 2014 breakout artist pick says he's got his mom's raver-like past to thank.

"My mom's a huge northern soul fan," the "Love Me Again" singer explains. "What northern soul is, in the UK, it can only be explained as a rave scene almost—a scene of people that were going to these events and dancing to b-sides of Motown music. That led my mom to listening to a lot of Motown. With myself, getting up for school everyday and getting played that, it was like, 'Oh, it's my mom's music' and I denied that I liked it almost because it wasn't cool in front of my friends who listened to house music."