Tunstall, KT (1975– )

Scottish singer and songwriter. Her blues-inspired debut album Eye to the Telescope (2004) became popular for its smooth melodies and low-tech acoustic-guitar rhythms. It featured the singles ‘Black Horse and the Cherry Tree’ and ‘Other Side of the World’.

Ethnically Chinese, she was adopted at birth and grew up in St Andrews, Scotland. The mystery of her origins and the possibilities of where else she could have been brought up have inspired her songwriting. After learning to play the piano and flute she developed her singing voice by listening to Ella Fitzgerald tapes, and was writing her own songs by her mid-teens. At 16 she taught herself to play guitar. She attended Kent School in Connecticut on a scholarship where she formed her first band, the Happy Campers, then a music course at Royal Holloway College. She returned to St Andrews and then back to London, where eventually she began to work on her debut album with U2 producer Steve Osborne. She toured with Joss Stone and the band Oi Va Voi in 2004 and released the EP The False Alarm later the same year.