British singer Corinne Bailey Rae types a text message after receiving three nominations during a news conference for the 49th Annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on December 7.

Corinne Bailey Rae has had a pretty good 2007 so far. The tiny Leeds singer has already stunned crowds at the Grammys (where she performed with John Meyer and John Legend) and impressed all at The Brits. Now she's heading off on a U.K. headline tour which sees her sing in seven cities over just seven dates, starting on March 13 and ending on March 22.

The change of scenery is a welcome one for Corinne, who said "I love to tour. I get to stay in my pyjamas all day until about five o'clock and do the soundcheck in my pyjamas. Then I get ready for the show, put a dress on, put some make-up on, do the show, and I meet and greet, then put my 'jama's back on. I like the pace of it ..."

The fact that Corinne appreciates the chance to pause and catch her breath is unsurprising. Since the release of the U.K. No. 1 debut album, Corinne Bailey Rae in February 2006, her world has turned upside down. Hailed as one of the brightest lights in British music, she's also a huge star in the U.S. Her album made number 4 in the American chart - almost unheard of for a British artist. But still, Corinne is unassuming.

"Prince came to see my show in LA. And I met Stevie Wonder and now I'm doing a concert with him for charity. All of this is very surreal," she said.

"When I met Stevie I didn't know what to say to him, so I just kept quiet. To me these guys are like (gestures) way up here, and I'm way down there, I don't understand why they're interested in someone like me."

She smiles a trademark wide, wide smile, and shrugs. "That's the kind of year I've had, loads of mad things happening and not much chance to reflect."

Birth place

Corinne Bailey was born in Leeds toa black Kittitian father and white West Yorkshire mum (the Rae part of her name came when she married Haggis Horns trumpeter, Jason Rae, aged 22). The eldest of three tall, skinny sisters, she learned violin at school and sang in the choir of her strict Brethren church. When the family began to worship with the local Baptist congregation, Corinne's ambitions grew.

"Suddenly I had all of these doctors and teachers around and it was something to aspire to. Nobody in my family had ever gone to university; they just got normal jobs. Suddenly it was like, 'wow, I wonder what being a doctor is like?' And the guy who ran the youth club was really into music, and that really started me off," she said.

Corinne's early faith and ambition have stayed with her. Despite forming Helen, "a riot girl rock band", in youth group, she felt no need to hit back.

When Helen disbanded just on the edge of getting a record deal, Corinne kept her musical dreams alive by working nights as a waitress in the Underground jazz club in Leeds ("if it wasn't too busy they would sometimes let me sing") and excelled academically, studying English at Leeds University.

To pay the bills she took all sorts of shop jobs.

Eventually, the fledgling singer secured a publishing deal which allowed her to make a living writing songs while working on the tracks for her debut album. Despite her English degree, she was keen to keep the lyrics simple.

"I read a lot this year, but I very consciously tried not to make the album even slightly clever. I tried to make them close to how you would actually have a conversation. But I love to read - AS Byatt I love, Alice Walker, Hanif Kureshi, lots of African-American writers, and I just read that Zadie Smith book, On Beauty - I don't want my lyrics to read like I'm someone who's trying to prove I studied EM Forster. I just wanted stories in music," she said.

Her simplicity

That songcraft simplicity was something that brought the makers of the Bafta-nominated Peter O'Toole film Venus knocking at her door.

"David Arnold, who put the soundtrack together, asked me to contribute some songs. When he approached me all these names were coming up, like Hanif Kureshi, who wrote it, so I couldn't believe my luck. I was like "I'm in!" The songs they used just had a little bit of guitar and a melodica on them, so they wanted something simple," she said.

Even so, Corinne expects to challenge listeners with her second album, which she will begin working on in August. 'Good music should be exclusive," she explains, "so I'm going for something a little left-field."

- Taken from The Voice