Lianne La Havas writes melancholic songs about love.

When she sings, her crystal clear tone wrings out every last ounce of pain from the stories of men who have broken her heart, in Lost And Found, or the wandering eye she admits she often indulges for men other than her boyfriend, in Tease Me.

Yet once a song has ended, she comes across as the happiest person in the world.

Her big booming smile lit up the Komedia stage and she transformed from a wronged soul singer into the 22-year-old girl, who by the time July is out, will probably have a number one album to her name.

She signed to Warner Bros Records two years ago and they have sat back and let her develop. So rapidly has she progressed, Prince has shown his interest and they’ve been writing together. She’s toured with Bon Iver and some American critics think her debut album, Is Your Love Big Enough, penned with producer Matt Hales (aka Aqualung), is to be the next big British album in the States.

The irony is she needs little help.

When she sang alone with only a guitar (a simple Danelectro) her vibrato-rich voice somewhere between Dionne Warwick and Billie Holiday silenced the room.

She is an accomplished finger-picker and looked the part too: all cheeky smile, stripy 1960s trousers and diva-leaning black-tassel jacket.

A three-piece band joined her for Forget, a slick upbeat pop tune that belies the soul beneath, and she turned a cover of Everything Everything’s Final Form into a smooth, harmony-laden lament.