A SINGER from Poole has made a meteoric rise to stardom to support Rod Stewart in his European arena tour.

The talented songstress performed last week at the Birmingham LG Arena, which has a capacity of 14,500.

Moya, 22, who describes herself as a mix between Joss Stone and Adele, said: “I get really nervous when I’m waiting to go on stage. My heart is in my mouth, it’s scary but exhilarating.”

Fresh from the European leg of the tour, Moya said the team drove through five countries in five days to make the dates in Paris, Amsterdam, Hamburg and Stockholm last week. Moya described the concert in the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam as the biggest and best of her life, as the arena has a capacity of 17,000.

She said: “The crowd went absolutely nuts and afterwards Rod gave me a big hug and asked how everything was going.”

The singer-songwriter grew up in Branksome Park and was brought up on a heavy mix of jazz, soul, motown and disco thanks to her mother. Educated at Canford for three years, Moya still keeps in contact with her Bournemouth friends and says they have been very supportive.

She said: “A lot of people thought it was just a hobby at first, something on the side, but once I told them that singing is what I really want to do they have been so supportive.”

Her album, Lost and Found came out last year and the single A Little More Love has received more than 593,000 hits on Youtube.