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Pixie Lott’s route to No 1 success
The singer of ‘Mama Do’ is no overnight sensation, having been groomed for success by the manager of the Black Eyed Peas
An 18-year-old girl from Essex has made pop history by going straight to No 1 in the UK singles chart yesterday - the first female singer with a debut single to do so without links to a TV talent show. She is Pixie Lott - real name Victoria - whose single /Mama Do/ knocked the American superstars the Black Eyed Peas from the top spot and fought off fierce competition from Dizzee Rascal's Bonkers and Daniel Merriweather’s Red.
But anyone who thought Pixie, with her big voice and soul-inspired retro-pop, came from nowhere to achieve the record would be way off the mark. The fact is her 'sudden' stardom has been carefully prepared over a period of four years.
Lott was on a scholarship at Italia Conti, the theatre arts training school in north London, when she responded to an advert in the industry paper The Stage in the hope of becoming 'the next pop diva'. Although she was only 14, and the open auditions were for girls aged 16 to 21, she begged her mother to let her try out and, in a perfect showbizzy twist, managed to bag the gig and set in motion the chain of events that would catapult her to fame and fortune.
The advertiser was David Sonenberg who it just so happens manages the Black Eyed Peas, their singer Fergie and The Fugees. He became her manager and took her to Los Angeles to audition for Antonio 'LA' Reid, the Grammy-winning music producer responsible for signing talents such as Pink, Usher and Avril Lavigne.
"One day I’d be out in LA recording songs, the next day I'd be back at school doing GCSE maths," she told the Daily Mail last week. "And I wouldn’t tell anyone about it, in case it didn’t happen."
Pixie needn’t have worried. She has spent the past 18 months holed in and out of the studio working with a slew of musical heavyweights, including the Grammy-nominated producer Toby Gad, R'n'B legend Rodney Jerkins and current American Idol judge and one of the world's most successful songwriters, Kara DioGuardi. The result is a debut album Turn It Up set to be released in September.
Decked out in black T-shirt and silver hotpants, she had been performing at the Isle of Wight festival when the news of her No 1 came through. "Every time I get up and sing for people I get such a high," she said. "I just want to do it again and again." ·
