Music

How would you describe your music to someone who hadn’t heard it?

I’d say it’s a blend of folk, soul and pop.

How did you start making music?

I’ve played the piano since I was tiny, then I joined a covers band when I was 14 and got into playing live gigs. I was the singer and keyboard player. So I’ve been doing this for ten years now. Feature continues

Yes – my mother was in the audience! I’m not sure if she was actually booing, but she definitely didn’t like the vulgarity.

What’s the question that everyone asks you?

At the minute, it’s ‘Tell us about the 21 nights from Tooting?’

Are people cynical about it?

Some people are, but I think that’s only to be expected in a world like this where a lot of things are scammed.

So it really was all genuine?

Yeah. The whole story about my car breaking down is completely genuine and I did buy the webcam. We did get a company to stream it for us, because you can’t do that yourself, but they did it for free, because they’d never done anything like that before. It was never meant to be a big deal, we were just aiming to get more people on the fanbase. The way it turned out was nowhere near how I expected.

If you could support any artist, which would it be?

Well, if I could play with anybody it’d be Stevie Wonder. That would be awesome.

Most rock ’n’ roll thing that’s happened to you so far?

We did our first proper headline, sell-out gig in Glasgow this week. That was amazing enough, but I sing a song called ‘Time’ and in it I mention a person who I went to school with. He lives in Glasgow and I’ve been trying to find him for years on the internet, so I made a bit of a plea to the audience to see if anyone knew him. And he was actually there and he shouted back! So I’ve found my long-lost friend because of my music!

Best piece of advice you’ve received so far?

Enjoy yourself. That was actually from Will Young. I did a gig in the café at Sony BMG and he was there.

Have you been feeling the pressure of expectation?

Well, I’m a bit of a floaty person anyway. I try not to take things too seriously.

It’s amazing how quickly things have taken off.

Yeah, it’s incredible. I’ve just had ‘ITV News’ in my kitchen interviewing me about my album launch. It’s madness.

Is there anything else we should know?

I have a tattoo of a cat on my ankle. People seem to think that I’m quite cat-like and my drummer’s girlfriend drew it for me one day. It’s ended up being the logo that I’ve kept for seven years. And now that doodle’s going to be on all my CDs and posters. How mad is that?