In a new interview in HELLO! magazine, Harleymoon Kemp talks of her singing career, her famous family, and the moment the Princess of Wales came to visit.
“I was there, of course; I couldn’t let Kate slip by if she was in our house,” she says of how the Princess visited the family home to film a video discussing Shaping Us, her early-years campaign, with Harleymoon’s brother, Capital FM DJ Roman.
“Roman is so cool – he just said: ‘Yeah, she’s coming round.’ I was like: ‘Whaaat? When?’
“It was surreal, watching Princess Kate come into my mum and dad’s house and walk around the garden with my brother.
“We are so proud of Roman – to be acknowledged by the future Queen for his work on mental health is absolutely outrageous.”
Her famous parents Martin and Shirlie, who took exclusive photos of her 34-year-old daughter for the new issue of HELLO!, have always encouraged both children to pursue their dreams.
Harleymoon’s first success as a singer came during the Covid-19 lockdowns, when her debut song Space went from an Instagram post with a home video to No. 1 in the UK Country Charts in 2020.
“I cried that people loved it enough to stream it,” she says. “It was crazy – I hadn’t had big dreams of anything happening with it. I’d just been sitting in my flat, needing something to keep me positive.
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“I have this weird therapy gift in songwriting. When I need to reflect on something or feel tangled up, I hear it as a song, then I write it down and get it out of my system. I really am my own therapist.”
Like Space, her most recent release Home is “personal to me, stories written out of a diary” and her “shows are a night of bad dates and heartbreaks that sail through my love life very openly in a comedic way.
“I hope no one I’ve ever dated comes to a show,” laughs Harleymoon, who next performs at The Grace in North London on 26 November.
The star tells how she grew up in a musical and supportive environment.
“Our home was a place of kindness and encouragement. It was always about helping and supporting each other,” she says, describing dad Martin as “the kindest man I’ve ever known”.
Of her own future plans, she laughs as she tells us: “Just having fun and going on more terrible dates that I can write songs about.”
Is there anyone who makes her heart sing?
“I wish. I’m on the lookout,” she says. “Please put an ad in HELLO!. If anyone’s out there who is tall, dark and handsome and as nice and kind as my dad, they are very welcome to apply via the hotline of HELLO!.”
For tickets for Harleymoon’s next show, go to https://comm.tix.to/HarleymoonKemp
FOR THE FULL INTERVIEW, PICK UP A COPY OF THE NEW ISSUE OF HELLO! MAGAZINE