2009 has already been a big year for 20 year old Emma Deigman. From finishing her debut album to confirming support on this springs Girls Aloud tour, the London based singers stars are surely rising . Yet it could have been a different audience she was performing to this year after starting out as a childhood actress.
A West End theatre debut in Les Miserables and a movie role with Bob Hoskins and Michael Caine in Last Orders were steering her to a career on stage or screen. But an afternoon at Top Of The Pops with Jay Z performing on his breakthrough smash hit Hard Knock Life pointed more clearly to a future as a singer.
Years of writing and demos honed her big soulful vocal and brought her to the attention of the pop production moguls, behind the likes of Take That , Spice Girls and Lily Allen and a debut album soon followed..
Stuffed full of live horns and strings the album and debut single It Was You overwhelms with a big warm 70s feel good sound that will be her calling card this year, setting her aside from the current crop of clipped electro pop acts.
Emma Deigman in a nutshell? Think Joss Stone meets Keira Knightly at a Rod Stewart gig soulful, captivating and up for a big night out.