LAST year it was West Dorset’s PJ Harvey who won the Mercury Music Prize, but this year it could be hotly-tipped singer Lianne La Havas.

With a legion of celebrity admirers, Lianne appears at the Old Fire Station on Wednesday.

La Havas, 23, spent some time singing backing vocals for the likes of Paloma Faith, but was signed to a record label 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 September, it reached number four in the charts and just a few weeks later was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize alongside the likes of The Maccabees, Richard Hawley, Alt-J, Michael Kiwanuka and Jessie Ware.

La Havas’s easy, story-telling style translates to her live shows, where she playfully introduces each song with a tale about how it was written and what it’s about.

It’s an endearing trait, drawing the audience in and making each performance feel like a two-way experience.

“It’s also a way of calming my nerves,” she says.

“If ever I’ve got butterflies, I talk to the crowd and it seems to relax me. Plus I just love chatting to people.”

She’s currently doing particularly well in Europe and across the Atlantic.

“People talk about breaking America, and it’s clearly brilliant, given that it’s such a hugely important, English-speaking country, and they have great taste in music, but I want to play wherever people want me. Success is success, I guess,” she says.

“Things have happened very quickly for me, and my job probably involves a lot more promotion than I thought, but I still love performing which more than makes up for it.

“A lot of blood, sweat and tears went into making it, but the reaction makes it all worthwhile.”