Emeli Sande, Leeds 02 Academy, April 5 (From York Press)

Emeli Sande, Leeds 02 Academy, April 5

10:38am Friday 10th February 2012 in Music news and reviews

Introducing … Emeli Sande, the Scottish medical student turned next big thing of British soul

SHE has a soulful voice, emotional songs and the Brits Critics’ Choice award under her belt. No, not Adele Adkins, but Emeli Sande, whose first name, quite by chance, is Adele too.

“I decided I had to change it and use my middle name,” says Emeli, aware of how comparisons with 2011’s biggest-selling pop star might be stacking up ahead of Monday’s release of her debut album, Our Version Of Events.

In truth, the Aberdeenshire singer’s songs differ from the ubiquitous melancholia of the Someone Like You diva, with bigger orchestrations owing far more to R’n’B and modern soul than Adele’s 19 and 21 retro albums do.

Emeli started writing songs at the age of seven – she is 24 now – and while there is no danger she will perform her childhood back catalogue, she says her first effort was still good enough to be plagiarised.

“It was about an alien coming to earth looking for love, and it wasn’t very good. It didn’t have much structure,” she says. “My friends formed a girl group for this talent show and they sang my song. I was in the audience and thought, ‘I recognise that!’ That was my first lesson in copywriting, anyway.

“The crowd seemed to like it, and they had a dance routine and everything. It was flattering I suppose, and we’re all still friends now, so I like to tease them about that.”

A few years later, after nagging her parents to buy her a piano, Emeli taught herself to play, inspired by a lasting love of Nina Simone.

She began to take music and song-writing more seriously. “The first song I wrote that I can listen to without cringing came when I was about 14 or 15. That was quite experimental, I think, as I was really into jazz at that point,” she says.

Emeli performed whenever she could, at school events and local concerts, all the time dreaming of how she could turn her passion into a career.

She was a realist too, choosing to plough on with academia, and after studying medicine at the University of Glasgow, she is now a qualified neurologist.

“I’m so happy I took time to study,” she says. “It was the first time I’d been away from home and I learned a lot about myself, let alone the subject. I feel a lot more in control now that I have a degree.

“There was a point at university where I was leaning towards a career in medicine, mainly because I didn’t see a way into the music industry. I was losing hope, but it was never an actual, complete decision.

“If I’d have made that decision, I wouldn’t have come down to London.”

Emeli never worked as a professional neurologist. Instead, she had three years at medical school, then a year specialising in neuroscience, before coming south after graduating.

“I still have about 18 months [of education] left if I want to become a doctor,” she says. “Dr Sande – I like the sound of that. It would look cool on the album cover.”

Once she had moved to London, she won a competition run by BBC radio DJ Trevor Nelson, although she turned down the prize of a recording contract, preferring to do things her own way.

Other record labels were not so interested, being unwilling to take a chance on a fully formed, young female singer whose career they could not shape.

Nevertheless, Emeli quickly became an in-demand writer – Simon Cowell names her as his favourite songwriter – penning hits for Leona Lewis, Cheryl Cole, Cher Lloyd, Susan Boyle and Tinie Tempah.

She laughs at the suggestion she sells songs only to artists who shift millions of records, countering any such accusation by pointing out she is working with an unknown band called Saving Grace at present.

“And I don’t ‘sell’ songs, as such,” she says. “I give them to people. I love the reinterpretation, and the fact someone can change a lyric to mean something I’d never thought about or intended.

“The first time I heard someone singing a song of mine was Cheryl Cole, who sang Boys. Leona Lewis did another around that time, too.

“Some people think it might be odd writing for other people, but I haven’t felt like that. There’s no one who’s sung a song of mine that I haven’t respected, and no one who made me think they didn’t understand what the song was about.”

When Emeli finally made her own breakthrough, ironically it was not with one of her own songs but with her vocal contribution last year to Professor Green’s number one single Read All About It.

From Monday, the focus falls on her album, Our Version Of Events, which features her number two hit, Heaven, Top 20 follow-up Daddy and forthcoming single Next To Me, the song that caught Madonna’s attention when Emeli performed on Graham Norton’s BBC1 chat show last month.

“That was a strange night,” she says. “We chatted briefly, she said she liked the song and my voice, and I shook her hand. Very memorable, but surreal.

“There have been quite a few surreal things happening lately, though. I walked into Topshop before Christmas and Heaven was playing. It was such a cool feeling, thinking that it’s not just on the radio anymore, but that it’d actually filtered into people’s everyday lives.”

• Emeli Sande will play Leeds 02 Academy on April 5 as the only Yorkshire show of her nine-date tour. Her debut album, Our Version Of Events, is released on Monday.

Did you know?

Adele Emeli Sande was born on May 20, 1987, in Alford, Aberdeenshire.

Did you know too?

Emeli is engaged to her long-term boyfriend, but won’t identify him at his request, saying only that he works as a scientist.