Emeli Sande wins top award
Aberdeen singer-songwriter seen as star most likely to
hit the big time in 2012
The Scottish singer-songwriter Emeli Sande has been given a top
music award.
The 24-year-old from Aberdeen will be awarded the Critics'
Choice prize at next year's Brit Awards.
"To win a Brit Award so early in my career is beyond a dream
come true," Emeli said.
"I am overwhelmed to be the recipient of such a prestigious
award."
Emeli's first single, Heaven, was released in August, and went
straight to number two in the charts. Shortly after, her duet with
the rapper Professor Green, Read All About It, reached number
one.
Before her own records became successful, Emeli was most famous
for writing songs for other people. She has written tracks for
Cheryl Cole, Tinie Tempah and - believe it or not - Susan
Boyle.
A panel of music experts decide who gets the Critics' Choice
prize each year. This year's panel thought Emeli was the artist
most likely to hit the big time in 2012.
In second place was the singer Maverick Sabre, followed by the
soul musician Michael Kiwanuka in third.
People who have won the Critics' Choice award in the past
include Jessie J, Adele, and Florence and the Machine.
Emeli will receive her award at the Brit Awards ceremony in
London's O2 arena in February.
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Emeli Sande wins top award
The Glasgow student who swapped medicine to write a song
for Cheryl Cole
While studying medicine at Glasgow University, Aberdeen soul-pop
star Emeli Sande took part in a few extra-curricular activities.
She wrote a song for Cheryl Cole, for example.
These days, having deferred her degree and moved to London, her
showbiz schedule is a whirl of stylists, designers, photo shoots
and new tattoos.
But Emeli still loves playing gigs to small crowds.
"I love just getting in a place where you can dim the lights,
get people's attention and just have this musical experience, with
no acrobatics or stuff like that," the singer says.
Sande is friendly, ambitious and confident. And while she's had
several hit collaborations with big names of urban pop like Wiley,
Tinie Tempah and Professor Green, she's eager to establish herself
as an artist - and a star - in her own right.
Sande's exhilarating, vintage soul voice first found recognition
when she was 16. She was at high school in the town of Alford, near
Aberdeen, and working in the local Co-op, when she was crowned a
finalist on Trevor Nelson's UK-wide BBC Urban Music
competition.
How did that initial attention come about?
"Well, my sister filmed me at the piano, doing a little
rendition of a song I'd written when I was, like, 15, and we
sent it in ..." she breaks off to laugh. "God, it was really funny
now I look back on it."
Her songs have hardly been off the radio since.
Emeli attributes her ability to work hard to her upbringing.
"My parents always instilled a strong work ethic in me - always
encouraged me to aim high. Education was always important and
nurtured within our family and I think that's had such a strong
influence on the way I approach writing music and my career."
Born in Sunderland in 1987 to a Zambian father and Cumbrian
mother, Emeli moved to Alford aged about four and went to the local
primary and secondary schools. A gifted pianist and clarinettist,
she thinks her musical ability comes from her dad - "he's quite
musical and his taste in music was an early influence", she
says.
Emeli's first album is due to be released next year. But what
about her university degree?
"I miss many things about studying medicine," she says.
"I'm really interested in neurology and psychiatry - I find the
brain fascinating. And I miss having a routine, the constant
challenge, learning new things every day."
Having just won the Critics' Choice Brit Award, the brain
surgery will have to wait. Medicine's loss is pop music's gain.
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