Joss a rolling Stone

Her slugfest with record label EMI left her broke but, after recently celebrating a decade in the music industry, Joss Stone is now making all the rules.

In an interview with The Times this week, the 26-year-old revealed that she was back at work, putting together an album that she is recording at her home studio in Devon, southwest England.

She said we might hear some of the tracks at her one-night-only performance at Carnival City, Ekurhuleni, on April 2.

The as-yet-untitled album would have a "reggae backbone to it" because she couldn't keep doing "the same stuff, over and over again".

That is also why, a few years ago, she launched a legal battle to enable her to part ways with her record label, EMI.

By 2009 she had given all her money [she was thought to be worth R184-million] back to EMI to get out of a three-album contract. She was left with only her house and three flats.

Though a prodigiously talented young performer - who had either sung with, or in honour of, legends such as Tom Jones, Annie Lennox, Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Mick Jagger, Melissa Etheridge, Jeff Beck and Dave Stewart - Stone's best days seemed to be behind her.

But six albums later and with well over 11million albums sold, she is still here and "very happy".

"Yeah, I'm pretty happy and pretty free," she said. "I feel like my destiny is mine and won't be controlled by anybody else .

"That's exciting - when you're living your life by your own devices, that's special."

Almost nine years have passed between Stone's debut album, in September 2003, and her second, in July 2012.

"The only thing that remains the same is that both albums are of covers, but my voice and the band are different. The approach this time was also different. We jammed our way through it and picked the best songs at the end, which is the way I prefer to work . if we don't like [a song], we never play it again."

Does she still prefer to perform barefoot?

"Yes, it's just more comfortable for me. I feel safer too."