IT IS rare to find sheer talent, but when the Brit School for Performing Arts accepted Katie Melua to do a BTEC and music A-level, they struck gold.
The 19-year-old singer- song-writer has a rich and melodious voice with a clear and wide register. And she's an untapped writing reserve, if tracks seven and 11 on her first album Call Off The Search are anything to go by.
Hailing first from Georgia in the former USSR before her family moved to Belfast, Katie's influences are diverse, including Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan. She has a strong blues flavour, but her songs are not all doom and gloom, and the writers obviously have a fine ear for the kind of track that will complement her style.
Her single The Closest Thing To Crazy has reached number 10 in the charts and there is little doubt that whatever she follows it with, it will be as well received.
The title track is a smooth ride and the listener half expects the rest of the songs to follow suit. But then she swings in with the up-tempo Crawling Up A Hill, all your preconceptions are abandoned.
If Katie Melua drifts into obscurity, it will be a crying shame.
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