FOLLOWING a triumphant set at Glastonbury, singer Lianne La Havas has announced a new UK and Ireland tour, which includes a date at the O2 Academy Bournemouth on December 5. This comes ahead of the July 31 release of her eagerly anticipated new album Blood.

Lianne La Havas made a huge breakthrough with her Top five debut album Is Your Love Big Enough?, which sold 200,000 copies and won Album of the Year at iTunes as well as Barclaycard Mercury Prize and Ivor Novello Best Album nominations. When she was 11, her father, a multi-instrumentalist, taught La Havas piano and within three years she was regularly singing lead parts in her south London school choir.

She says she became "obsessed" with Lauryn Hill's performance in gospel comedy Sister Act 2: Back In The Habit and began singing the songs from the film to herself.

"Singing was always my secret thing," says Lianne Las Havas.

"If ever I was in my room singing and heard someone coming upstairs, I'd go silent and just sit there not answering. Even now I'd struggle to sing in front of my friends and family."

Fast forward a little and at 18 she first picked up a guitar, an instrument on which she now displays frightening ability, effortlessly combining jazz, folk and soul styles. La Havas, now 23, spent some time singing backing vocals for the likes of Paloma Faith, but was signed to a label herself in 2008 shortly after playing her first solo performance.

"I'd only written one song of my own then, really," she says. It wasn't long until more arrived, making up the majority of her debut album Is Your Love Big Enough?

Released in 2012, it reached number four in the charts and just a few weeks later was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize.

Forthcoming follow-up Blood is an album that was inspired by Lianne’s family heritage, which is part Jamaican and part Greek. Once touring for her debut album came to a close, she headed to Jamaica with her mother for a holiday which evolved into an experience of self-discovery. Lianne enjoyed emotional reunions with long-lost relatives; embraced Kingston’s clubs; and even jammed in front of her family for the first time during a session with legendary dancehall / reggae producer Stephen McGregor.

Lianne has previewed the album with the singles Unstoppable and What You Don’t Do which have both received substantial support at Radio 1, Radio 2 and 6 Music.