​Joss Stone and Nitin Sawhney: How we met

Joss Stone, 28

Rising to fame in 2003 with her Mercury Prize-shortlisted debut album 'The Soul Sessions', Stone achieved a number one album with her follow up, 'Mind Body & Soul', becoming the youngest female solo artist to top the UK album chart. She has since released five further albums. She lives in Devon with her four dogs

A few years ago, I wanted to do a world-tour project with a collaboration in every country, to learn different styles of music along the way. I met Louise Houghton from Big Earth [Productions], who loves Nitin, and she told me how he's interested in different sounds and travels round the world to find them, so she arranged a meeting for us in 2012.

We ended up sitting in his studio, chatting about all the stuff he'd done and the musical cultures he'd seen, such as throat-singing in Mongolia. He is a very open and spiritual guy and he said he wanted to write a song with me and play it on his radio show.

He's wonderful with lyrics, a poet. When you start writing with someone, you learn so much about them, as it sparks conversations – there was one song that he dedicated to his parents, called “Immigrants”. Without music, those conversations usually only happen after five years of knowing someone.

I never learnt to play instruments, I'm not organised – I flit from place to place – and I don't have that discipline that Nitin has: he studied law, has written plays, and learnt about instruments to an intense level. If I didn't have people like him in my life, I don't think anything would get done.

When I was making my most recent album, Water For Your Soul, I was getting flustered. There was a bass drum on one track, “Stuck on You”, but I wanted it to be bigger, weightier. But the producers said it's as big as it's going to get. So I went round to Nitin, who tried to find a sound for me in this monstrous lab of sound of his. And although I couldn't explain it, he went through all these sounds and found one that sounded just right, and we added it. That was awesome.

We've been to a lot of gigs together as regular punters. My favourite was a Lauryn Hill concert, as we have a mutual love for her. A lot of people diss Lauryn – they think she's crazy, which frustrates me and Nitin, as musically she's amazing.

The most fun we've had together was when we did a gig at my mum's old club, Mama Stones in Exeter. We spent a week rehearsing: half of his band, half of mine, and we smushed them together. Then we took his songs and my songs and made them sound different, and smushed our music together; it was hilarious.

His worst habit is that he's so focused on work that he doesn't sleep. He needs to look after himself more – he needs to eat!

Nitin Sawhney, 51

An award-winning British-Indian musician, producer and composer, Sawhney has released nine albums. He has also written the score for more than 50 films and TV series, including 'Midnight's Children' and 'Human Planet'. He lives in south London

Joss came to my studio with her mum and a few others in 2012, as she wanted to discuss her idea of going to every country around the world on tour. I thought, “Wow what a brave person, that's hardcore and fearless, how realistic is that?” But she was determined.

We got on straight away: she was this humble, nice person and I kept thinking how she'd sold 10 million copies of her first album, but she's not got any airs about her.

I asked her whether she wanted to come on Radio 2 to appear on Nitin Sawhney Spins the Globe, a show I do four times a year, and she did. We wrote a track together in a day and it went down so well that I put it on my live studio album, OneZero. And we've done a lot together since.

Joss says she lacks discipline and skills, but I'd disagree. She is intimately musical, as she has a feel and understanding of melody, harmony and rhythm without realising she is a virtuoso. She'll do a 5/4 time and then a 7/4, writing music in an unusual time signature, and she'll not know she's done it: she's just looking for something interesting. She's also so versatile. I was a DJ at [London nightclub] Fabric for a long time and I was used to listening to drum'n'bass tracks. So I thought, let's see what happens if we get Joss doing drum'n'bass. And it was slamming.

People want to call her an airhead, as when you see someone who looks like Joss – all that blonde hair, and a pop star – they put her in a box because she's also relaxed and chilled and open. But that's ignorance, and not knowing her: she certainly is not an airhead. Her sister is a barrister and when they are together they're equally formidable.

The way she dealt with that case [in which two men were convicted of plotting to rob and decapitate the singer] was an extraordinary testimony to her inner spirit and strength. Shortly after the case, she came into the studio and someone said, “How are you doing, Joss?” And she said, “I'm fine, thanks – I've still got my head!” She was able to joke about it, and rather than condemn them, her instinct was to be compassionate. She wanted to understand things about them, which is great.

Walking away from her label [EMI, in 2012] is one of the things I admire most about her. She knows her own mind and was determined not to be controlled by others.

I've been over to her studio in Devon, which she's built next door to her house, a few times, and hanging out with Joss and her dogs in her home environment has made me realise she is very much in a place now that she wants to be: she's a happy and contented soul. It's not often you see that in this business.

'Molly Town', the second single from 'Water For Your Soul', is out now. Nitin Sawhney's new album, 'Dystopian Dream', is out on 6 November