Conor Maynard - When Ne-Yo phoned me I thought it was a mate putting on an accent
Conor Maynard has no idea what day it is. Fifteen minutes ago, he didn't even know where he was. Such is the life of the international, jet-set teenager, who has enjoyed a rapid rise since winning MTV's Brand New for 2012 Award.
The singer, who beat Michael Kiwanuka, Lana Del Ray and Lianne La Havas to win the title, has been one of the successes of the year.
He thrilled fans at this summer's V Festival and has wowed crowds at similar events, including the Capital Summertime Ball, in London.
Today, Conor is sleepy. He's just flown back from the USA and been driven to the West Midlands, sleeping for most of the way.
"Yeah, sure I'm looking forward to playing in Birmingham," he says. "I can't wait to get started. It's great to be headlining my own tour.
"Things have changed a lot for me since winning MTV's Brand New: that was kind of the pivotal point for me and that's what put me in the public's eye.
"Even being nominated felt like a crazy thing. I saw the Top 10 and saw some big names in there so I was like, 'Oh okay, maybe I'll go for number two'. To go ahead and win was amazing."
Conor grew up on the south coast immersed in music.
He enjoyed singing as a child, but didn't start taking it seriously until four years ago, when he went to drama schools for weekend classes.
"I remember I was singing with one of my mates when I was about 15 and this girl overheard and was like 'Wow, you can sing' and that made me think maybe I should take this more seriously.
"The reactions I was getting from people was what urged me on to do something more serious with singing and that's when I started doing Youtube."
Youtube is presently the second best channel for new acts to get heard; with only Radio One having more klout.
It worked wonders for Conor, who uploaded his first video of him singing Breathe, by fellow British musician Lee Carr, in 2006.
He then covered a variety of songs, including those by Chris Brown, Taio Cruz, Rihanna and Ne-Yo.
"The Ne-Yo track was a big deal," he says. "I did a cover of Beautiful Monster and it was my first video with one million views.
"It was all done in my room from Brighton so it was crazy to get that many views.
"Then Ne-Yo himself saw that video and tried to sign me off the back of that. I didn't believe it at first, I thought it was my mates putting on an accent so I sort of blew it off.
"Eventually I ended up on Skype with Ne-Yo talking about our music. He's been like a mentor to me."
By Andy Richardson
* Conor Maynard plays Birmingham's HMV Institute on Thursday night.
