WE'RE ALWAYS hearing about the next best thing, and now there's a new name to add to the list. She's a 20-year-old singer-guitarist with an angelic voice, who dresses like a rock star and cites Bob Dylan, Eva Cassidy, The Darkness and Queen among her influences.
Katie Melua has been labelled 'the new Norah Jones' and has embarked on a global tour to promote her debut album, Call Off the Search. She has a voice that evokes some of the greatest female singers and, despite her age, can sing even the darkest blues. And with the strength of one of Britain's most influential music-management men behind her, she's being shown the fast route to success.
But when she talks over the phone from Melbourne, midway through a hectic tour schedule, she seems down-to-earth about her trajectory to fame. 'It's been very bizarre, particularly when you didn't expect it,' she says in a strong South London accent that is audibly exhausted from a gruelling day of interviews. 'It's been brilliant though, it's great to be a lucky musician.'
Since Call Off the Search reached No1 in the British music charts in January last year, Melua has found how her magic appeals to a global audience - she was born in Moscow, raised in the former Soviet republic of Georgia, and lived in Northern Ireland before reaching London in her teens.
It was while performing on the stage of the Brit School - London's leading performing arts institution - that Melua landed her big break. 'I was at school and knew I definitely wanted to be a musician; either be a singer or write songs or be a producer,' she says.
Sitting in the audience during her performance was Mike Batt, a top British songwriter and composer. Batt has had a hand in various success stories: he is responsible for co-writing The Phantom of the Opera with Andrew Lloyd Webber, he created the theme tune for TV series The Wombles, and wrote the music for the famed children's film Watership Down (including Bright Eyes, Art Garfunkel's hit from the movie). He was even commissioned by Queen Elizabeth to write music for the inauguration of the channel tunnel. After seeing her perform, Batt invited Melua to jam with him and a band made up of some of the country's best session musicians.