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Born and raised in Paisley, Scotland, Paolo Nutini is a 19-year-old singer/ songwriter blessed with a soulful, passionate voice and the natural gift of being able to tell a story in a song. Like many of the truly inspired singer/songwriters before him, Nutini has absorbed the soul of classic artist from both sides of the Atlantic and channeled it into something original, captivating, and dynamic. Despite their Italian name, the Nutini family has lived in Paisley, Scotland for at least four generations. Paolo's great-grandfather opened the fish and chip shop in Paisley which his parents now run. Paolo's musical education began with his late grandfather, who introduced him to Scottish folk songs as well as a wide range of other styles. "He was a big music lover, my Nonno," Nutini says. "He loved boogie woogie piano, he adored opera, and it was him that really encouraged me to sing. He always wanted somebody in the family to make music their living. He's not around to see it, unfortunately, but I'm doing just what he wanted, and I'm doing it in his honor." Paolo's exposure to classic R&B stars like the Drifters and Ray Charles came via his dad and an auntie's record collection, while his own post-adolescent explorations brought him to the work of such troubadours as John Martyn and Van Morrison. Nutini first started singing publicly in his school choir, and though the choir's choice of songs were hardly his favorites, one teacher quickly spotted his prodigious talent and guided the young singer through a more soulful repertoire. "Initially, I'd wanted to be a football player," Nutini recalls, "specifically a goalkeeper. But the more I sang, the more I realized it was just something I could do. I was hardly going to walk away from that, was I?" At 16, Nutini hit the road with a friend's band, acting as roadie, T-shirt vendor, and occasional on-stage support act. From there, the die was cast – Paolo quit school in Glasgow and moved to London, where he started performing regularly at clubs around town. His bold voice and provocative songs created an instant buzz and he signed to Atlantic Records shortly after his 18th birthday, immediately heading north to Liverpool to work on his debut album with renowned producer Ken Nelson (Coldplay, Ray LaMontagne, Badly Drawn Boy). The result of their labors, 'These Streets', follows Paolo's departure from his beloved Paisley to his arrival in sprawling London – as chronicled in the title track's aching lament, "Where it takes you about an hour to cross the road/Just to stumble across another poor old soul". "Basically, the album is an autobiographical journey, " Nutini says, "a diary if you like, of my last three years." Many of the songs tell of Nutini's already rich romantic life, such as "Jenny Don't Be Hasty," about an older woman he met at London's famed 12 Bar. "She was 23, so I told her I was 22 – and she believed me," Paolo grins. "In fact, I was only 18." In July, Nutini's moving first single, "Last Request," went straight into the charts at number 5. The debut album "These Streets" followed, at number 3 on the album chart, going gold in less than two weeks and certified platinum just four short weeks later. In addition to its popular success, the album received a bounty of critical praise. Uncut Magazine awarded "These Streets" four-out-of-five stars, noting that "For once, comparisons with the great Al Green are not entirely far-fetched." The Observer hailed Nutini as having "a talent for elegant, melodic songwriting and an admirable willingness to vary the tempo." And in the U.S. Rolling Stone have recently named Paolo as one of its "10 Artists To Watch 2006." A truly charismatic live performer, Nutini has supported such superstars as Paul Weller and the Rolling Stones, in addition to making sensational TV appearances on Top of the Pops and Later with Jools Holland. In May 2006, Paolo appeared at the New York Pops Birthday Gala at Carnegie Hall at the personal request of the evening's honoree – Atlantic Records Founding Chairman Ahmet Ertegun. In July, Nutini brought the house down during a special tribute to Ertegun and Atlantic Records at the Montreux Jazz Festival. The only new artist on the bill, Nutini shared the stage with such icons as Solomon Burke, Robert Plant, and Kid Rock. One of Paolo's heroes, soul legend Ben E. King, was so impressed that he invited him on stage to sing with him, an amazing moment for the young singer. But for the gifted young artist, all that really counts is having his music heard. "Everything that has happened to me so far has been really good, really fluent," Nutini says. "There have been a few bumps along the way, sure, but nothing fatal. All I want now is for enough people to identify with my songs so I can keep on singing them. I like to think they're worth hearing." |
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| These Streets paved with platinum JONATHAN TREW Paolo Nutini is having a slight Spinal Tap moment. He is not demonstrating the marvels of a volume knob that goes up to 11 or even contemplating the fine line between stupid and clever. Rather, the singer from Paisley is demonstrating the confusion that can come with promoting a debut album that goes platinum within a month. It is one of those little incidents that are insignificant by themselves but, taken in context, can speak volumes. Asked if he is in Milan, the 19-year-old singer asks me what day it is. "It's Wednesday? I'm in Milan, then. We were in Texas for the Austin City Limits Festival until Monday and are going to Germany next." The last few months have all been a bit of a similar blur for Nutini. Even before his album These Streets was released in July, Nutini had been toting up the air miles. Gigs at the Carnegie Hall (NYC, not Dunfermline), the Montreux Jazz Festival, support slots with Paul Weller and the Rolling Stones, appearances at South By South West in Texas and playing on the Late Late Show for host and fellow Scot Craig Ferguson all mean that he has not seen much of the Paisley chip shop where he grew up and which his parents still run. He doesn't expect anyone to hand him a hanky but the promotional treadmill can be gruelling. Expats usually list Marmite or Hobnobs as the things they miss most from home. Paolo is just as precise, although the things he misses most can't be spread on toast or dunked in tea: "I miss just being me, with nobody after me or telling me to be somewhere." Those James Blunt comparisons are getting a bit wearing as well. I didn't bring the subject up, but Nutini seems to have had his fill of comparisons with that other popular male singer-songwriter. "There are only so many times that you can hear 'Are you the new James Blunt?' before you want to get a gun and shoot yourself," he says. "He has done very well but it's like the kiss of death for any other songwriters at the moment. I'm sure James Morrison goes through the same thing. Everybody tries to pitch you up against these people. I think James Morrison is pretty good. I've heard the record and didn't like it all, but I'm not expecting him to like all of mine." Reality TV singer David Sneddon, a man, one suspects, who would love to be compared to James Blunt, inadvertently kickstarted Paolo's singing career when he turned up late for a PA in Paisley. To fill the time, a local DJ organised a talent competition. A rather bashful Nutini, then 15, stepped on to the stage and dumbfounded the audience with his voice. At 18, he signed to Atlantic Records. Having spent the past three years of his life fighting to get a musical career, there is a sense that the past few months have hammered home the reality of what that actually entails. "There is a realisation that music is now my life," he says, "but I have a life outside of music as well and there is a conflict there. I'm finding it hard to get used to life in front of a camera. It is hard." And then he catches himself. "In comparison with a lot of other jobs it certainly isn't hard, but it does put a bit of strain on your head. The Texas festival we did was amazing. It was an amazing bill and an amazing thing to be part of. Next we are off to Germany. There are festivals to do. It's going to be all right. It's going to be fun." Nutini's soulful voice, currently blasting over the airwaves in the single 'Jenny Don't Be Hasty', released next week, is that of a throaty bar room Romeo several times his age, so it is less of a surprise than it might be that he comes over as remarkably level-headed; even if he does have a teenager's aversion to early mornings, photo shoot or no photo shoot. He may only recently have reached the legal age to drink in a pub but there seems little chance of his head being turned by his very rapid success. Keeping his feet firmly on the ground has not been a problem. "I'm too busy walking and running about for them to ever get off the ground," he laughs. "The only time my feet are off the ground is when I am on a plane." There also seems to be little sign so far of Nutini being prepared to compromise his songs. There was talk of working with both Robbie Williams' former songwriter Guy Chambers and with Linda Perry, who has boosted the careers of everyone from Pink and Christina Aguilera to, er, that man Blunt. Nutini was having none of it, possibly because he is the sort of musician who would prefer a song crept up on him around 2am after a second bottle of wine rather than trying to workshop one up in a studio. "I like doing my own songs because they mean something to me, so I can sing them with conviction," he says. Besides, there were cannier forces at work when it came to considering a stint at Linda Perry's studio. "It just didn't equate, going over to LA to record with Linda Perry. Her studio fee was just ridiculous, you know? I didn't feel it was worth it," he says. If his soaring career has meant some tricky decisions, it has also brought the singer some surreal high points. He came close to a barney with Mickey Rourke in a New York nightclub recently. Even better, it happened after he got separated from Kid Rock when both of them were on a night out together. Nutini saw Rourke at the bar, tipped his glass to him, said "Cheers" and went to the toilet, wondering why the actor had shot him a grizzly look. When he re-emerged, Rourke growled 'Waddya say, kid? Did you swear at me?' "I don't think he understood me," the Paisley teenager says in his home town burr, "but we clanked glasses and it seemed to be all right." Less hairy was the time that Nile Rodgers, disco producer and one half of Chic, sent a boat around to bring Paolo and his band over from Manhattan to his Long Island chalet. According to Nutini, the visit from the Paisley boys may have set house prices back a few years. "He was sitting there in his garden with his dreads and his dalmatian, looking as cool as you can imagine. At one point he said 'go for a swim'. We all went steaming in and as we were swimming around you could feel the area devaluing by five grand with every breast stroke." America obviously doesn't think too poorly of him, given that in the September issue of Rolling Stone he's named one of the magazine's artists to watch in 2006 thus: "his throaty, heavily accented singing voice has earned frequent comparisons to Joe Cocker and Faces-era Rod Stewart." But it has not all been fun and showbiz boat trips. Nutini almost scuttled his own boat when The Sun splashed his picture above a headline which screamed 'Wasted Talent' on the day he was due to debut at T in the Park this year. The article contained the earth-shattering revelation that a Paisley teenager was no stranger to the occasional joint. Nutini was worried what reaction he might face from the audience. He was more worried about the upset the article had caused his mother. In the event, the T in the Park crowd greeted him like a returning hero and threw a mountain of spliffs on stage. His father just said that he would be wrapping chips in the story the next day. With that episode hopefully behind him, Nutini is looking forward to doing his next set of shows and then, schedule permitting, taking a break over Christmas. These Streets has only been out a couple of months, but the singer is already exploring options for the next album. "There is another whole body of songs that we worked on that were a lot more, not darker, but maybe more surreal," he reveals. "They were dealing with different issues, with drugs or talking about sex in a little bit of a more risqué way. "It was stuff that just didn't mean enough to me to put on the record last time, but having listened to them again and again, I do feel that they could work and put a whole new angle on it. There is plenty more stuff to come. It's me trying to realise what I am capable of.' I tell him it sounds as though he is keeping his options open. "Thank god for that," he laughs. "I'm only 19." |