As Corinne Bailey Rae rides a pushbike while wearing a white floaty top in her latest video, it's hard to imagine her stomping about in stripy tights and Doc Martins.

But that's how the music career of the sweet and smiley songstress began - as frontwoman of indie-rock band Helen.

Coming from the same Leeds patch as Kaiser Chiefs, Helen had some success and even got a record deal while she was still at school.

"We started playing in pubs," seh remembers.

"It was a double life. I was a rock singer and a head girl at the same time. We were on TV and everything."

Disaster struck when a bandmate fell pregnant and their manager dropped them. Devastated, Corinne threw her energies into her studies and, to get some extra cash, took a job in a jazz club.

It revealed a world of smooth, soulful grooves and funky sounds which entranced Corinne.

There, as well as meeting her husband Jason (a saxophonist who'll be joining her on tour), she felt her music taste shift.

"I found myself writing more and more songs that didn't fit with Helen," she says. "I started singing songs like God Bless The Child." Helen dissolved and a fledgling soul star was born.

With a voice as soothing as a hot bath, sassy Corinne is the nation's new easy-listening sweetheart.

Now signed to EMI, her rise to fame was swift because of a chance appearance on Jools Holland. Apparently, scheduled guest Sinead O'Connor fell ill at the last minute and EMI shoved Corinne to the front of the queue of potential replacements.

It couldn't have gone better. She performed a dreamy, acoustic version of her track Like A Star, which Jools himself said made him melt.

Better still, Burt Bacharach, another guest on the same show, said she was fabulous. Success was assured.

Her eponymous debut album - a mixture of jazz-tinged soul and sweet pop - went straight to number one, spawning the single Put Your Records On, which reached number two.

The critics have likened her to the likes of Billie Holiday, Erykah Badu and Minnie Ripperton, which might be unfair and a touch overwhelming given the early stage of her career.

"I would rather be in this position than still be trying to get people to hear about you," she says. "I do think there's a lot of expectation but I feel the music itself can stand up to it."

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