RS: What was it like to work with Robbie Williams?
Katherine Ellis: I don't know, because I never met him. He did the vocal with Dave Lee whom I did Fascinated with. Dave produced the track on Robbie Williams' album. Robbie had been down and done the vocals the day before and then I came in the next day. I stood in the same box as him and I did the background vocals and I saw his hat which he'd left behind and I stroked it, but that's as close as I got.

RS: One thing that always sort of bothers me is when I saw the Raven Maize "Fascinated" video, I knew that that blonde chick wasn't really singing. Does it ever bother you when someone else is miming your vocals?
Katherine Ellis: Interesting question. I mean, it depends why it's being done. In the case of Fascinated, no, it didn't bother me. I was about seven months' pregnant at the time and I'm one of these women, when I get pregnant I eat for five thousand and I get hugely fat and I really don't want to go out the house and I'm very grumpy. With the idea they had for the video, there was no way a huge pregnant grumpy woman with a bag full of chocolate was going to sort of look right. Dave Lee is one of my favorite producers and he's extremely fair. He's always treated me very well financially and been very fair about the percentages and everything, so I got paid really well for doing that record. I got some publishing because I co-wrote it with him and a big slice of the advance at the time when he was still getting ridiculous advances for records.

So I was quite happy, in that instance because it was a good video. I liked it and I was earning money and someone else was doing all the work. Sometimes it can be annoying as there've been other instances where perhaps people haven't been fair with me and haven't told me. That doesn't seem to be happening anymore as I think I've got to a stage where people wouldn't do that to me now.

RS: I'm sort of guessing you're referring to Cappella when you talk like that.
Katherine Ellis: That's one of them, yes. I think that was because it was like a buy-out. It was at a time when I didn't have an awful lot of money and they were like 'it's X amount, do you want to do it or not.' In fact, I'm not even supposed to really talk about it, but I just think it's so long ago now I don't care. I agreed but I wasn't happy about it. It was kind of irritating to turn on Top Of The Pops and see someone else doing it. That's my voice and I worked really hard for that voice. In the case of the Fascinated record, it's no secret that it was me, I'm credited, I got paid, so it's not a problem.

RS: Will there ever be a Katherine Ellis album?
Katherine Ellis: Well, I think there should be, I've kind of decided to progress from 'featuring' to 'and,' that's my next move. I'm doing a track with Ben Macklin at the moment and I talked to him about it and he asked, are you alright with Ben Macklin featuring Katherine Ellis. So I said, can we have Ben Macklin and Katherine Ellis? He said 'OK.' People don't often know what it means. I've got an assistant now and he said that he just always thought featuring, didn't sound that important to him. People have different perceptions and he wasn't really sure what featuring meant. In the case of like Salty, I wrote that top line over Marvin's track, so it's an equal collaboration. The Freemasons track, I wrote that and it's kind of like, I just think I've earned the right to be 'and.'

RS: Hopefully one day it'll be just Katherine Ellis…
Katherine Ellis: Yes, there could be. I mean it's difficult because the way things are at the moment sort of suits me. I do have a family and I take that responsibility very seriously, it's something I enjoy and I wouldn't want things to get out of control so that I was never at home. The other thing is that at the moment I'm not really taking financial risks because I work on spec. I have to support myself in order to work on spec but I basically please myself, other people kind of pay to put things out. When you get into the realms of doing your own album then you're starting to pay for things and I don't know if I'm ready for that sort of responsibility. Or not that I'm not ready for it, I don't know if I want it just yet. I think it's only a matter of time before I have another big commercial hit and I think at that point, that could be the time to think about it again. I do have a clause in my contract that I can release any records that I make on my own album should I want to do one. So yes, it's a thought.

RS: Talking about a big pop crossover, I guess that's where Bimbo Jones comes in?
Katherine Ellis: It could be Bimbo Jones or it could be the Freemasons track or it could be a track that I've done with the Soul Avengers called "One Love." You just never know which one and sometimes it's not the ones you think it's going to be.

RS: You've worked with so many great people, is there anyone you'd like to work with that you haven't worked with yet?
Katherine Ellis: That's a good question. I'd like to do something with Ben Watt. I love the Basement Jaxx as well.

RS: It's funny because I interviewed the Soul Seekerz last week and they said they'd love to remix Basement Jaxx again.
Katherine Ellis: I love the Basement Jaxx because they're kind of different and not afraid to try new things. They're very innovative and they're nice guys. I met them in Dubai when I was working with Roger Sanchez and I really liked them.