Name: Gabrielle.

Full name: Louise Gabrielle Bobb.

Occupation: Enduring, ten million-selling British soul, R&B, blues and jazz singer and songwriter.

Born: Hackney, London.

Age: 43.

Breakthrough: Debut single Dreams topped charts in 1993.

Second No 1: Rise, 2000. Song used sample from Bob Dylan’s Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door.

Other hits: Going Nowhere; I Wish; Because Of You; Give Me A Little More Time; Forget About The World; If You Really Cared; East 17 duet If You Ever (reworked from Gabrielle’s solo version, If You Really Cared); Walk On By; Sunshine; When A Woman; Should I Stay; Out Of Reach, from film soundtrack to Bridget Jones’s Diary; Don’t Need The Sun To Shine (To Make Me Smile); Stay The Same.

Albums: Find Your Way, 1993; Gabrielle, 1996; Rise, No 1 1999; Rise Underground, remixes, 2000; first compilation, Dreams Can Come True, Greatest Hits, 2001; Play To Win; 2004; Always, 2007.

Temporary retirement in 2008. Why? “I was adamant I would never make music again. I’d had enough of being in the public eye. “I’m not a celebrity; I always tried to stay under the radar when I wasn’t promoting an album. I had my website shut down and told people I was retiring. “Looking back, it was a bit extreme, but I decided just to be a mum, which is what I did. I didn’t miss the music because making music had stopped being fun for me.”

What made her change her mind? Producer Naughty Boy asked her to sing Hollywood, co-written with Emeli Sandé, for his 2013 album, Hotel Cabana.

Latest album: Now And Always – 20 Years Of Dreaming, career retrospective released last autumn by Island Records as double CD with six new songs produced by Syience, Paddy Byrne and Naughty Boy, among others. Plus Daft Punk remix of Forget About The World; Wookie mix of Sunshine; Artful Dodger remix of Rise.

Those new songs: Broody break-up single Say Goodbye; Sixties-influenced soul stomper Knew Me; funky Holding On For You; bittersweet title track, Now And Always, a haunting love song set to strings and piano; dance-floor filler Show Me What You Got; Naughty Boy’s sumptuous, cinematic reworking of Dreams, recorded from scratch with new vocals.

Gabrielle on Dreams: “I didn’t think we should mess with Dreams, but Naughty Boy did an amazing job. It sounds nothing like the old version. When I heard the re-work, I was astonished; it was as if I just realised what a beautiful song Dreams is.”

Reason for five-year hiatus: “I was notorious for taking three years between albums. I love making music but not 365 days of the year. I’m probably just lazy, but I can’t force myself to write songs. I have to long to be back in the studio and feel good vibes when I’m recording.”

Why the eyepatch, sunglasses or a long fringe? She has ptosis, a low-drooping eyelid.

Where, when, and why will she be in York this weekend? York Barbican, Saturday, on 20 Years Of Dreaming tour, promoting Now And Always album at only Yorkshire show of her nine dates. Doors open at 6.30pm.

Tickets update: Available on 0844 854 2757 or yorkbarbican.co.uk