KT Tunstall

Scots singer/songwriter, KT Tunstall exploded onto the music scene in early 2005 with her debut single, Black Horse and The Cherry Tree and a multi-platinum selling album, Eye to the Telescope. She performed at the 2006/07 Edinburgh Hogmanay celebrations.

With her Chinese blood and Scottish heart, KT ("it's got a bit more attitude than Kate!") is a breath of fresh air in the music world. She grew up in St Andrew’s in Fife which, according to KT, was, "beautiful but sheltered, a little bubble."

Asking KT what inspires her to write, she said: "My songs examine and explore little specific emotions or situations or stories. They're kitchen table songs, like a conversation between me and one other person."

Living in the small university town of St Andrews has also influenced her music.

Halley's Comet

"My dad is a physicist and he used to take my brothers and I into his lab when we were little. We played games with liquid nitrogen. He had the keys to the observatory at St Andrew's University and he'd get us up in the middle of the night to show us Halley's comet. That’s partly why my album is called Eye to the Telescope."

In her teens KT was eager for independence and new experiences. She gained a scholarship to Kent School in Connecticut, New England in the USA. There she formed her first band, The Happy Campers, playing informal gigs.

KT recalls, "By the second week of playing an open mic spot, I was their 'special guest from Scotland!'"

Meteoric Rise

Her rise to fame in the last 12 months has been truly meteoric:

"I’ve started to take things one day at a time now and have learnt not to expect anything I expected. It's been a tornado but fantastic. A real Wizard of Oz experience."

KT was unemployed for seven years before she got a record deal.

"I had finished university at aged 21 and then got my publishing deal when I was half way through 27."

So how did she have the confidence to stick with it?

Busking

"It came from starting a local theatre group when I was eight so I have spent the majority of my life performing. I have a deeply embedded love of performing and communicating with the audience.

"From the first time I went on stage or played in the backroom of a pub or went busking, I got such a good reaction from people.

"Even when I was playing in a restaurant in Edinburgh for £20 for a three-hour set, somebody would always come up to me and say, 'You are really good. Why are you playing in a restaurant?'"

Gig of a Lifetime

KT may be much in demand all over the world but she was honoured to be asked to perform at the Concert in the Gardens on Hogmanay (31 December) in Edinburgh, along with fellow Scots bands, Texas and El Presidente.

Commenting on coming home to play at one of the world's largest New Year celebrations, KT said:

"As a Scots lass it's the gig of a lifetime. I've spent a few Hogmanays at the Street Party over the years and have always dreamt of playing it one day. Until we're on that stage, I won't believe we're allowed on it!"

Information correct at December 2007

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