Katie Melua is far from crazy

She may be the best-selling British female recording artist in the world and may have sold more than 7.5 million albums worldwide, but somehow, singer songwriter Katie Melua just didn't look at home in a sumptuous suite at The Westin, Dubai's latest hotel.

Whether it was her petite frame against the sprawling expanse of the living room or her striking green eye shadow in contrast to the purples and oranges of the soft furnishings, Katie and the fancy room didn't work.

It's not that she doesn't have the notes to pay for such a place — having just been placed in the top 20 of richest singer songwriters under 30 — but she didn't let herself completely relax.

But then I guess that's not easy for a 23-year-old who is clearly a "real" girl at heart.

"Dubai is like a wonderland. It reminds me of a place which you'd find on Mars," she said. "A bit like someone has created a bubbleland where everything is man-made and perfect. I do quite like it here but I think I prefer my world to not be quite so perfect and more real. I love nature and like it when things are natural."

Question answered. No royal treatment needed here — Katie is a girl with roots. And she's better for it. Signed to an independent label, Dramatico, care of English songwriter and producer Mike Batt, Melua says she wouldn't want it any other way.

Retro project

Unable to interest major record companies in what was a decidedly retro-styled project, Batt released Melua's debut by pouring a great deal of his own money into a marketing campaign.

In the UK, her debut single, Closest Thing to Crazy, was championed by Terry Wogan before the baton was picked up by another ageing but influential UK tastemaker, Michael Parkinson.

Melua said: "My career is about my music and not me. I'm not a celebrity, don't claim to be and wouldn't ever want to be. I want people to understand and share the music and not get wrapped up in what I'm wearing, who I'm dating and what I had for breakfast.

"A big label would mean I would just be a name on a priority list and I'm not sure I'd be comfortable with that. My albums are released slowly around the world as i have the time to go there and actually put a face to my songs. It's not about mass-publicity but about hearing my music and meeting the girl behind it all."

In Dubai for the Middle East launch of her album, Pictures, which was released in the UK in September 2007, Melua said she was overwhelmed with the heat but said she was looking forward to performing in the UAE.

On presenting her music to an intimate concert at The Westin, Melua said: "It is always amazing to play for 10,000 people because the atmosphere is so different. It is electric and the vibe is often enough to hit you in the face.

"But my music is mostly acoustic and that also suits much smaller, intimate venues which are also great fun. It's funny because people think it means less work but actually it really doesn't make any difference because my work output is still exactly the same."

Finding fame after just four years out of college, you may have assumed Melua missed out on a childhood, but with grounded, supportive parents and a strong extended family network behind her, Melua considers herself very lucky.

In the summer of 2003, aged just 18 and still studying at the Brit School of Performing Arts in Surrey, no-one, least of all Melua, would have predicted what the next few years would hold. Just four years later, she had sold more than 7.5 million albums becoming, in 2006, the year's best selling British female.

Early influences

Far from cutting edge, Melua's songs are solidly middle-of-the-road, classically constructed, through influences from her mother and uncles back in the ex-Soviet state of Georgia, where she lived until the age of 8.

She said: "I grew up in a world where going to piano lessons and singing lessons was like going to the cinema. It was something everyone did and almost every family had someone who was musical.

"My uncles played the guitars and listened to mostly rock and heavy metal and my mother played the classical piano.

"These are the people who really influenced me and are probably the reason my music seems confused sometimes. It has aspects of so many different styles which has really helped me grow as a musician.

"I have very happy memories as a child — especially when it comes to music — but I also played with my friends and had an insect cemetery too! You know, all those normal things a child should have."

But it wasn't until she moved to the UK aged 14, and attended the Brit school of Performing Arts in Croydon, that she knew there was nothing else in the world she wanted to do other than write songs and perform.

She added: "I started on a computer programme which allowed me to mix my own demo tracks and I was hooked. It was all I could think about and did it all day, every day.

"My passion grew but my songs were very strange in the beginning. They were very immature and about fantasy scenarios really.

"One song, called Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust was about a wife who murdered her husband and buried him in the garden.

"I'm pretty sure I never wrote about anything which had really affected my life and was more interested in making the track than the track itself."

But it was her first "real" song which made Batt stop and stare and eventually sign her to his label.

The musical impresario was looking for someone in the style of the late Eva Cassidy to perform his songs, and was won over by the then 18-year-old Melua's own tribute to Cassidy, Faraway Voice. Her meeting with Batt changed her life.

She said: "It was the discovery of the guitar which really changed things for me. The boys in the band would play as loud as they could but when I started playing I realised I could control the sound and the music myself and everything fell into place."

Melua was the right girl in the right place at the right time, a home-grown answer to the similar and even more successful Norah Jones.

It's doubtful she would have flourished without the industry backing of Batt, but Melua has made successful inroads all over the world with number one albums in Britain, Holland, Norway, Denmark, Poland and Iceland.

Making it big

During the summer of 2003 her debut single, The Closest Thing To Crazy, attracted the attention of British station BBC Radio 2 and upon its release entered the charts at number 10.

Released in November, Katie's debut album Call Off The Search hit the UK number one spot in January 2004 and has subsequently scored top 10 positions throughout Europe.

The album has since been certified gold in Holland, Hong Kong and Switzerland, platinum in Denmark, New Zealand and Australia, two-time platinum in Germany, Ireland, Norway and South Africa and received the IFPI Double Platinum Award for two million European Sales.

With a background of suffering as child growing up in the civil war, Melua claims to use her status in the most positive way possible — to help people.

Katie joined the line up for the Band Aid 20 single to record a new version of Do They Know It's Christmas and as an ambassador for Save The Children this was a particularly poignant moment.

Flying from South Africa to Sri Lanka where she experienced the work being one by Save The Children, particularly with child soldiers, Melua says it's children like this who make you realise how lucky you are.

She said: "It really opened my eyes to so much and it's something I want to get more involved with. Life is real and out there and people should know how these children are suffering."

So what's next for Melua?

"I am currently in the middle of a world tour which finishes in early 2009 and then I plan to take some time off and go back to school. I love literature and as English is my third language I am really feeling that it's getting worse and I need to improve things."

But her fans might not be so thrilled. September 2007 saw the release of Melua's third album Pictures — a record which has delighted her legions of fans, confirmed Melua's status as a unique and remarkable vocalist, and revealed the third chapter in what is destined to be a long musical career.

In Depth

If you could have a superpower what would it be?

The first thing that came into my mind was to be able to read other people's minds but that is weird because I'm not really bothered about that. I would love to be able to breathe underwater and go as deep as I could to a place where nobody else could go.

Breakfast everyday means what?

Cornflakes normally does the job

Favourite song?

Hearts and Bones by Paul Simon

Worst song?

Staying Alive by the Bee Gees (because I discovered my fish had died to this song and it just seemed so ironic).

Favourite film?

Pulp fiction

Shopping or sports?

Sports definitely, but only adventure sports. I love sky-diving and thrill-seeking and always want more. But wouldn't be seen dead in the gym!

One granted wish?

To get everyone back to nature and to realise how amazing the planet we live on actually is.

If you could go anywhere in the world right now where would it be?

I quite like it here for now! It's warm and sunny — that's ok.

Biggest influences

Queen, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Irish folk music and Indian music.