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| February 2, 2007 |
| KT Tunstall makes most of 'Idol' connection |
YORK (AP) -- If KT Tunstall wins a Grammy next month, she might consider thanking two of the most unlikely people in her acceptance speech.
One would be "American Idol" runner-up Katharine McPhee. The other: jazz trumpeter Olu Dara, father of the rapper Nas. Without them, Tunstall might still be strumming a guitar in London coffee shops.
"Me, McPhee and Nas' father need to go to a wicked bar in Times Square and suck one down and talk about how great my career is," says the Scottish singer-songwriter with a laugh.
Nas inadvertently handed Tunstall her first big break when he pulled out of an appearance on an influential BBC show in 2004 after his father fell ill, allowing Tunstall to fill in. And it was McPhee who raised Tunstall's American profile by belting out her infectious hit "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" -- twice -- during the last "Idol" run.
Partly thanks to them, Tunstall's debut album "Eye to the Telescope" has sold 3.5 million copies worldwide and earned her a Grammy nod for best female pop vocal performance. Many of her songs have been featured on hit TV shows.
Along the way, Tunstall has remained fiercely grounded, even while rubbing shoulders with her musical peers when she was invited to the Grammy nomination announcements in Los Angeles in December.
"I was at a photo call with Justin Timberlake and Mary J. Blige just going, 'Oh my God. I was unemployed like five years ago. This is not who I am!' " she says.
"A light bulb went off just five minutes after me getting stressed out about it, going 'You don't have to do anything. Just carry on. It's what got you here.' " |
posted by viraks @ 5:28:00 AM  |
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