TORONTO - Back in 2006, British neo-soul singer-songwriter Corinne Bailey Rae was riding high on the success of her self-titled debut album, which subsequently sold four million copies worldwide, and spawned such breakout hits, Put Your Records On and Like A Star.

She found herself nominated for almost every music award across the pond and in North America, and her warm, inviting voice won over such famous fans as Herbie Hancock who used her on his all-star tribute to Joni Mitchell, River: The Joni Letters, which won a best album Grammy.

Then Bailey Rae’s life came to a crashing halt with the accidental drug overdose death of her bassist-husband Jason Rae in March 2008.

Now the 30-year-old Leeds-born artist is emerging from her grief with a deeply personal new album, The Sea, due Jan. 26, and a select number of short, intimate shows including The Drake on Sunday night.

“It’s nice to be back, I haven’t seen you after so long,” she said, dressed in a slinky black halter dress and surrounded on the small stage by five musicians.

About 150 people gathered to hear Rae run through most of the material from The Sea, which leans towards a bigger, bolder rock sound on such tracks as Are You Here, Paper Dolls and Diving For Hearts.

“This is about all the bad girls I was friendly with in school,” said Rae with a little smile about Paper Dolls.

“Did you like that song?” she said afterwards. “It’s only our third gig we’ve done so it’s new to us as well.”

But Rae’s breezy pop-soul sound is still very much intact on other new songs like Paris Nights and New York Mornings, and Closer.

It was nice to see Rae, who handled an acoustic guitar, tambourine and dulcimer, so at ease on stage.

There is definitely a delicate and shy quality about the singer as if she is the calm centre of the music as it swirls around her.

But when she opens her mouth to sing, her voice is fuelled by an emotional strength and power.

Case in point, the new soulful ballads Love Is On Its Way, I’d Do It All Again, I Would Like To Call It Beauty and The Sea’s title track, which featured her hitting some mighty high notes.

Rae left the stage after the encore song, Till It Happens To You, but not before saying: “We’ll be back, hopefully somewhere bigger, bring your friends.”

And so her life, on stage and off, continues.

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SET LIST:

Are You Here

Paris Nights and New York Mornings

Love Is On Its Way

Like a Star

Closer

Paper Dolls

I’d Do It All Again

Diving for Hearts

The Blackest Lily

I Would Like to Call It Beauty

The Sea

Put Your Records On

ENCORE

Till It Happens To You