Passenger talks ahead of headline Birmingham show - interview

Mike Rosenberg, aka Passenger, enjoyed his 'David Gray moment' in 2014 when Let Her Go made him an international star. It was nominated for a BRIT Award, received the British Academy's Ivor Novello Award and sold more than four million copies in the USA. Around the world, it notched up number one chart placings in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Israel and eight other countries.

And yet it was a lifetime in the making. Passenger had started out in 2003 and worked for four years before releasing a debut album, Wicked Man's Rest. Back then, Passenger was a band, also featuring Andrew Phillips, but their lack of success led to a break-up and Rosenberg kept the name, hitting the streets to busk.

He played in Australia and the UK and released two more albums before his breakthrough came in 2012 with the release of All The Little Lights. The record was a slow burn but within two years it had notched up a platinum disc and top ten chart placings around the world.

Since then, he's toured with Ed Sheeran and toured the globe. And the biggest change hasn't been to his lifestyle, it's been to his facial hair. "My beard's got a lot bigger," he says.

Rosenberg is back on the road as Passenger tour the UK. He'll headline Birmingham's O2 on Tuesday.

Rosenberg wasn't geared up for the success he's experienced. "I never expected the success. Maybe when I was a kid, dreaming of number ones, major record deals and all those kinds of things... But after a few years in the music industry, I kind of thought 'there's no flipping way I'm ever going to get this commercial success, I don't write that kind of music.'

"When I wrote Let Her Go, it's not like I was doing anything different, I was just writing a song as I would any other day of the year, it just so happened that this one resonated with people."

"I don't think I've ever really fitted into the industry and the scene. I feel like I've always been on the cusp.

"After that, there was a lot of external pressure from other people, and through other people's eyes if you don't have another Let Her Go then you're failing, you're a one hit wonder and you've peaked and you're on your way down."

Rosenberg's friendship with Ed Sheeran was in his favour. He suddenly found himself playing to crowds of 60,000 each night, as arenas and stadiums welcomed him with open arms. It was a far cry from his early years, when he met Ed as a busker.

"We met when, I think, he was 16 and I was in my first year of busking, 22, 23, and we were both on this tiny little gig together, literally in a basement pub in Cambridge to 30 people and I watched him play. There are not many 16-year-olds that can make a room feel that way, and he did, and he blew everybody's mind.

"He took me as the support act around the world for a year and that really gave Let Her Go the platform to then go on to do something. Without Ed, it wouldn't have happened."

And now he's back with his seventh album, Young As The Morning, Old As The Sea, which has reached number one in the UK. He added: "I think expectations are sometimes dangerous things. I think the only thing you can be sure of is that it won't go to plan, I think that's the only thing that's definite."

By Andy Richardson