Her sister Grace is at Sussex University, and so is able to
get away from the all-embracing tsunami that Florence's
life has become.
Florence's 15-year-old brother, JJ, thinks it's all pretty
cool, and finds the connection with a pop star a good way
to develop conversations with girls.
I do occasionally feel a twinge of unease about this whole
extraordinary thing, and I remember the first time I felt
it. It was more than a year ago and Florence was playing
a gig in an inexplicably fashionable joint in Hoxton,
Hackney.
Practically every A&R man in London was there. As I
watched Florence putting her heart and soul into the
performance, I glanced round at the audience.
There were the fans, wild-eyed and transported by the
experience. And there were the A&R men, with quiet,
thoughtful faces. They weren't here to enjoy themselves,
they were taking care of business, and the business was
my daughter. That's just the way it is - no worse than any
other business, but it was a sobering thought.
It was also at this gig that one of the A&R men who knew
that I was Florence's father turned to me with a quizzical
expression as she launched into another of her perverse,
Gothic tales of death, dismemberment, and bloody
revenge.
'I know what you're thinking,' I shouted, 'but I can assure
you she had a perfectly normal upbringing.'
Florence and Nick Welch together in Bar Italia after Florence attended the Royal Academy of Arts exhibition in London, 5th June 2013
THE FLOW MAGAZINE ISSUE 6 | APRIL 2014
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