MUSIC BIOGRAPHY: JAMIE SCOTT

With his modest demeanour and impeccably polite manners, it's hard to reconcile the unassuming image that Jamie Scott presents to the world with the extraordinary soulful voice on his debut album.Listen to the record and you can hear the heavy influence of such 70s icons as Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye, as well as the current neo-soul breed of D'Angelo and Alicia Keys, but his songs also betray his love of the melodic writing.It's a unique combination - the lyricism of a troubadour combined with the emotional power and passion of an authentic soul artist. "You could pretend I come from the ghetto," jokes Britain's most promising new soul singer, "Guns and crack cocaine in the Surrey suburbs.I've been shot four times. That would make a good story." But in its way, the real Jamie Scott story is every bit as fascinating and unusual. And it has the advantage of being true.He picked up a guitar at the age of seven and wrote his first song at nine.

Jamie Scott grew up obsessed with music. Yet somehow he managed to avoid the music of the 80s and 90s completely, immersing himself in his parents' collection of classic albums from the 60s and 70s. "I'm lucky that I've never listened to a lot of pop radio so I haven't been influenced by that. All I've listened to all my life is old school. And when you don't listen to modern day music and you're reared on a constant diet of Marvin and Stevie and Donnie Hathaday, you develop an ear for a tune. That's all I've ever been interested in."

While a collage he formed, heavily influenced by Simon and Garfunkel, playing acoustic show in and around London. "But soulful at the same time," he adds. "It was pretty cool." Around the same time, an aunt who was dying from cancer, bought him a new piano. He came home one day to find the instrument sitting there in his room. "She knew music was my life and it was an amazing gesture. I didn't leave that room for the next three years. I sat there playing records and writing songs. That's all I did. It still is, really."

At first, the songs were written with the intention of someone else singing them. When he sent off a demo it was with the intention of seeking not a recording contract but a publishing deal. But the years spent in his room absorbing all of his classic influences were about to pay off. "The publishers got back the next day and wanted to sign me. Then within a week I got offered a better deal by someone else. But both of them liked my voice and said I should be singing the songs myself."

As a result, he signed to Sony Music in late 2002. The first move was to find a producer. By coincidence, Toby Smith had just left Jamiroquai and was looking for new projects. They teamed up and hit it off immediately, evolving the unique mix of potent songwriting and soul grooves that makes Jamie Scott's album so special.

"With a lot of r&b today, you take away the beat and you don't have a track," Jamie says. "For me the song always comes first. I write on the guitar. I don't sit down at the computer and get a groove and then try to graft a song onto it. I always start with a song and that's the basis of everything I do."

As the album took shape, he undertook a series of solo gigs with just his acoustic guitar for accompaniment. A Blues & Soul magazine tour was followed by a support slot with Carleen Anderson, Sugababes and Lemar and two London shows supported Mario Wynann and Ginuwine.

At 21, he is already a hugely accomplished songwriter, although he insists he can't write to order. "I couldn't write to a format in order to get on the radio. I write the songs because I want to. Or may be because I have to. If you think about life and why we are here it's all pretty weird, right? That can keep me awake at night, thinking about that. I reckon that's why people write songs. It's a way of trying to make sense of everything."

His songs display an astonishing depth and maturity that belie his years. The lyrics of first single, Just, were inspired by a poem by the mystic writer, Kahil Gibran. "On one level it could simply be about people not understanding you. But it's also about those times when things are not going your way and asking why God isn't there with you - and then finding that he is," Jamie explains.

Love Song To Remember displays his romantic side. "It's the most heartfelt song I've ever written. It's about a real person but it's also about a fantasy, a vision of two people who are together forever. My parents split up when I was young, so it's trying to make sense of that, as well."

Like so many of Jamie's songs, Searching is another that works on a number of different levels. "There's a lot of anger and frustration in that song. It's about trying to make it in the record business and being determined to keep going when people put you down. But again, it could apply to any situation in which you're trying to pretend you're confident when you're not."

He has strong views about what he wants to do with his music. "You have to convey an emotion. It doesn't matter how sad a song is. When you hear the voice, it should uplift you in the way that Marvin Gaye did. I can't categorise my music and or describe soul music. It's just something that touches people. And if you can do that in a song there's no better feeling in the world."

Click for exclusive Footage of Jamie Scott playing live