Eliza Doolittle has injected summer into the charts with her debut self-titled album reaching number 3. She’s currently doing summer festivals before embarking on a tour with Paloma Faith in November. It appears that performing is quite literally in her blood, her grandmother is Sylvia Young, founder of the famous Sylvia Young Theatre School.

Interview by Pamilla Kaur

What is your favourite song on the album and why?
I actually go through different fazes of liking different songs. So my favourite is always changing! At the moment, I really like Mr Medicine, because when we play it live it’s really fun and the crowd really interact.

Pack-up is a great track. But if you could just ‘Pack up’ and leave and go anywhere, where would you go?
I would love to go to either Mexico or India.

Your album peaked at number three in the UK charts, how did it feel? Did you do anything to celebrate?
I was celebrating anyway that week because the album was out. It is my debut album so it was a huge deal for me. So, I had a party to celebrate its release, before we new the chart position. It’s so exciting to have the album out. When I found out it had got to number 3 I was over the moon! I was shocked and still am.

When did you first realise you wanted to be a singer?
I was probably about 12 and people at school ask, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I always used to say, “I want to be a singer” because I love singing and being on stage. I am always singing in the car and I figured I should just go for it from that age.

I understand you didn’t go to your grandmother’s stage school. Why was that?
I feel it’s a mixture of my mom and dad wanting me to have other opportunities and keeping family and school separate. But my family are really supportive of what I do.

You’ve done so much in a year. You’ve had the album release, touring with Jaime Cullum and Alphabeat and now doing festivals. How has it been for you?
It’s amazing! I love touring and I love gigging. It’s one of the best aspects of what I do. It’s so nice to play my music live.

You’ve got some exciting summer slots of V Festival and Bestival – What’s your live set up like?
I’ve got a double bass player, drum kit and guitarist. The guitarist also plays the ukulele as well. We all try to play a bit of everything. I can play a little piano but I haven’t brought that into the set yet. I might bring that in the November tour with Paloma Faith.

If I were to look through your music library at the moment, what would I find?
At the moment I’m loving Vampire Weekend and The XX. I’m really getting into Marvin Gaye. Also, Madonna, I’ve been listening to her albums and I love it! Loads of stuff really. I have a huge addiction to music.

How would you describe your fashion taste?
I love mixing it up. I like a lot of stuff on the high street and mixing it up with vintage. I like a lot of colour. I love shorts and high tops. I love randomness!

What’s the worst trouble you’ve been in?
I always get stopped by the police for driving, it’s so strange! I don’t know why, maybe they just pick on me. They stop me; there is something about me they don’t like. They ask for my driving licence. The other day I was stopped again and I was searched for drugs! It was really funny. I always get into trouble like that for no reason at all.

If you could join a band or artist, which would it be and why?
I would love to sing with Stevie Wonder, he’s my favourite artist. Also, I’d love to join the Gorillaz, I think they’re wicked!

If you could be invisible for a day, what would you do?
I’d sneak onto a film set whilst they were filming and move people’s wigs around, and freak them all out. I’d mess around so much, like kick a ball into someone’s face so it looked as if it came from nowhere!

Finally, why should the readers of Voice 21 check you out?
If they want to hear some good music, they should check me out on my myspace (www.myspace.com/elizadoolittle), twitter page (www.twitter.com/eliza1doolittle) and blog (www.elizadoolittle.com)