Shola Ama s meteoric rise from rags to riches should encourage all those budding pop stars who dream of being discovered to keep the faith. Plucked from obscurity at the age of eighteen by Kwame from underground Brit-soul act D Influence, after he spotted her singing on the street outside Hammersmith tube station in London, she s now one of the biggest female artists in the business, leading the charge of the R n B revolution on this side of the Atlantic.
I have no idea why R n B has taken off the way it has in the last couple of years, she muses. I think it might be a reaction to years of dance culture. The public have always loved classic songs, and I think that s why R n B has become so popular people are crying out for good songs again. American acts like Usher brought R n B into the mainstream and made it easier for people like me.
Shola s keen to avoid being pidgeon-holed as an R n B artist, however.
I don t want to be known for just one style. I see myself as a singer-songwriter, not as an R n B singer.
According to her mother, Shola has been writing songs since she was four. In school I was in this all-girl band that just wanted to be famous, but I didn t really plan to be a singer. Acting was always my first love, she recalls. My grandfather had been an actor he appeared in Inspector Morse and Nuns On The Run and I wanted to follow in his footsteps. I loved singing, but I had no hunger for it until I was discovered.
In the three years since she emerged, Shola has achieved more than most artists do in a lifetime. Her first single, You Might Need Somebody , was a top five hit, her debut album Much Love went platinum, she won a Brit Award for Best Female Solo Artist, and MOBO Awards for Best R n B Act and Best Newcomer. Veterans like Eric Clapton and Paul McCartney and David Bowie were calling her at home to tell her how much they loved her voice. So how did she cope with being thrust into the spotlight at such a young age?
In truth I didn t, she says candidly. I lost it for about a year. It was hard trying to get used to it all, and there was so much success so soon that I let it go to my head. I became very wrapped up in myself and changed a bit, becoming quite big headed. I brought myself back down to earth when I sat down to decide my next move and reflected on what had happened to me. I realised I had changed but I decided not to be too hard on myself. I was only a teenager after all.
Shola describes In Return as the sound of a 20-year old and not a teenager , and indeed the more diverse and accomplished collection reveals a marked maturity in her songwriting, her delivery and her production.
I had a much more hands-on role in the recording of the second album, and I was a lot more confident, says the girl with ambitions to become the next Lauryn Hill. I want to conquer America and the rest of the world first, and then I want to establish myself as an internationally renowned producer. I ve already got three acts that I am developing, but they are a bit young yet and I don t want to exploit them.
With such a hectic schedule ahead of her, one wonders whether she has now relinquished her childhood dream of becoming an actress?
No way, definitely not. That s still my ultimate ambition, but it s not something I m thinking of now, as I don t want to be known as a singer-turned-actress, because that s so naff. I ll wait for a while, and when I decide to do it, I want to go straight to America and Hollywood. Nothing else will do.
Shola Ama plays Temple Theatre on March 3rd.