Nottingham resident Harleighblu has been involved in music from a very young age. Growing up surrounded by her Mum’s record collection – a treasure trove of the best soul and rare grooves – she kindled her interest in music by emulating each of the singers she heard. She started songwriting at the tender age of 7 at a community recording studio, and began entertaining school friends with impromptu performances at break times. With an obvious talent, Harleighblu was entered into and won a number of local talent competitions, the prizes of which helped kit her out with all the musical equipment a young girl could need. Now, 13 years on, Harleighblu is preparing to unveil her debut album. Harleighblu’s drive, belief and passion for creative exploration has seen her naturally develop into one of the UK’s most promising young artists. From the age of 12 she started working with a number of producers, however it was meeting Birmingham based Dino Nisbett and his co-producer Andre Bassing that really gave rise to the next development in her musical journey. Through Nisbett and Bassing she was introduced to Dennis Seaton, lead singer of the Grammy nominated band Musical Youth, which gave her the chance to not only provide backing vocals for the reunited band, but also to put together her own live band and start performing the local circuit. After working on a collaborative album, songwriting and gigging, it was the loss of her beloved Granddad that made her re-evaluate her musical life. Still only 17 and with a new found determination Harleighblu set out to find the right producer that could give her the sound she truly wanted. On meeting her now producer Joe Buhdha, Harleighblu says, “We seemed to knock out song after song at a crazy work rate and I finally felt I was creating songs I wanted to create”. With a new direction and a shed load of new material she stepped out into the gigging circuit once again, this time taking in local venues, numerous festivals and supporting roles for Liam Bailey and Natalie Duncan. Thanks to these performances and early support from Rodney P and MistaJam, as well as BBC Introducing, the buzz around Harleighblu has already started. She signed to Tru Thoughts in late 2012, and her debut album is due June 2013. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.