I saw Damien Rice in Dublin when I was 13, and that inspired me to want to pursue being a songwriter... I practised relentlessly and started recording my own EPs. At 16 I moved to London and played any gigs I could, selling CDs from my rucksack to fund recording the next, and it snowballed from there.

I'm quite arty. I didn't know whether to become an artist or musician but I realised I could paint with music. All my songs have colours.

I've had years of teasing about my red hair, but I definitely think it toughened me up. If you're ginger, you end up pretty quick-witted.

I think if you have someone without a sense of humor, you're less likely to be together.

Everyone still thinks I'm Scottish - that's totally wicked.

I would say, you can never do enough gigs and you can never do enough songs. Make sure that every opportunity you can, play a show and every opportunity you can, write a song.

Why didn't kill me it never made me stronger at all.