Birdy

“My mom's a concert pianist, so she started teaching me when I was around seven. When I was eight, I started writing my own songs, and kinda started putting piano and singing together. But I'm trained classically, which is a big influence on me, I think.”

“I've never spoken to Bon Iver, but I would love to. I'm a huge fan!”

“I've heard that Bon Iver liked my cover of 'Skinny Love.'”

“It's quite hard to have your mom as a teacher - it's like, she's not necessarily a 'real teacher' for me. But she'd always teach me to really hear the music, and develop my ear, and to try and hear the harmonics of the piano.”

“I used to play violin, but I wasn't very good!”

“I think it was when I was 12 when I entered a singing competition. I sang my own original song for an audience of 1,000 people.”

“I've started to get used to traveling a lot and performing, but still everything has grown so quickly and is very exciting!”

“I love Adele and Lykke Li. I also listen to classical music as well.”

“I've had to ban my mum from coming to see me play. She gets so nervous before any show. I've always got a few nerves but she's so much worse than me. You'd think she'd be able to handle that kind of situation. After all, she is a concert pianist.”

“I read the three 'Hunger Games' books in a week and because I liked them so much I wrote 'Just a Game.'”

“I don't think you have to have experienced things to understand them.”

“I wanted to give people a taste of my own music through the sound and style of my covers.”

“I would love to work with Paolo Nutini because he is so soulful and an amazing songwriter.”

“My songs tend to be about love. It drives some of the greatest songs. I'm looking forward to seeing what people make of my writing.”

“I got a phone call from Fearne Cotton. It was amazing! I literally couldn't believe it. It was so cool. It was the night before I was going on her show to sing on the 'Live Lounge.' She was so lovely.”

“When I performed at 'Open Mic U.K.' I had this connection with the audience that I'd never felt before, and I loved it. It was my first big thing, and looking out into the crowd... was just amazing.”