Call Me Laura (aka Laura Critchley)

A Scouse Carrie Underwood or the love child of Rod Stewart and Stevie Nicks? Laura Critchey looks as though she should be starring in a high-budget US TV series: lots of glossy blonde hair; huge doe eyes and long legs in skintight, low-slung jeans. Yet a small club in west London was the venue of choice for the Liverpudlian's first headline gig, and the sound of the evening was a hybrid of country, rock and pop that would be equally at home in a Nashville bar or at Wembley Stadium supporting Aerosmith.

The opening song, 'Getting Over You' (co-written with Steve Booker, who wrote Duffy's debut, 'Mercy'), was the most 'pop' song of the night. Musically at odds to the rest of the set, its lyrics revealed that an ex-boyfriend had left her with a cracked, if not quite broken heart, and ample inspiration for her songs. 'It's Then', for example, dwells on those moments when she misses him, but humour was rescued with and aside: "Sod him, he was a crap bass player anyway".

Accompanied by her five-piece band for the most part, she broke up the set with three stripped-down songs. Neither she nor her sometime songwriting partner Dave Whitmey blinked an eyelid when the keyboard went into 'circus mode', forcing the duo to perform the love song 'Lullaby' with guitar for the first time.

Having served her apprenticeship supporting Boyzone, Deacon Blue and Sugababes, Critchley is supremely comfortable on stage. Throughout her hour-long set she bantered easily with the audience, providing insight into her life and lyrical influence without becoming a bore.

Not surprisingly for an artist with just one album, the set was peppered with covers, including Dusty Springfield's 'Take Another Little Piece of My Heart', Kiki Dee's 'I've Got the Music in Me', which Critchley truly made her own, and a rocked-up take on Billie Ray Martin's Nineties dance hit 'Your Loving Arms'. Perhaps dipping into the back catalogue of others is the way forward: Martin's song will also serve as Critchley's next single.

Radio 2 has already given this soft-rock chick plenty of airtime, but the rest of the British media is dragging its heels. Rejected by a reality-TV show for being blonde - "we've put too many through today" - there is more than a sniff of American Idol's Underwood about her.

But while Underwood had the might of the US show behind her, Critchley is on a small British label, and in the absence of Simon Cowell, she must rely on her songs and her Bonnie Tyleresque voice to do the talking. - Independent

Arriving backstage at the Boyzone concert to interview their support act, Laura Critchley, I didn’t really know what to expect. I mean, this young girl from Liverpool is friends with Ronan Keating, has already toured with the Sugababes, has recorded a music video in LA and has sang vocals for Robbie Williams. Not to mention, she’s also worked with songwriter Diane Warren, who has penned hits such as “Can’t Fight the Moonlight” for Leanne Rimes and “Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing” for Aerosmith. And she’s only 23! Her music is reminiscent of country-pop and her originality comes in her powerful voice. Taking influence from the likes of Karen Carpenter, it finally seems that Britain has finally produced a singer that can rival the likes of Sheryl Crow and Leanne Rimes. With that in mind, I was fully prepared to come face to face with a diva surrounded by a huge entourage. I couldn’t have been more wrong. I was introduced to a stunning young woman (even prettier in the flesh) who was pleasant and down to earth. She was sitting backstage in the canteen surrounded by crew and dancers. As we were introduced she greeted me warmly and apologised profusely for having to run off and do a quick sound check. When she returned we were brought down to her dressing room so we could have some peace and quiet to chat. I loved how animatedly she talked about being on tour and how she explained she was happier doing her own make-up and hair before a gig. Born in Little Sutton, the Wirral, 23 year old Laura has had a tough road to success but 2008 sees her achieve the things she used to dream of. Laura wrote her first song ‘Changes’ at 16, which was played on her local station, Radio Merseyside. During her continuing pursuit of a musical career she reached the last group of auditionees in Fame Academy 2001, the last 6 in First Up on Sky TV out of 10,000 people, and was turned down by X-Factor for being one blonde too many! She persevered. She relentlessly played gig after gig trying to gain attention from record labels. Her determination paid off and a huge record label soon discovered her. However, just after being signed by Big Print Music, Laura feared her career could be over before it had even begun, when she was diagnosed with Acid Reflux. “That was one of the hardest times in my career so far,” she explained. “At the time I didn’t know what it was! I was going on stage and singing but by the end of my set I could barely speak. I thought to myself ‘I’m not meant to be a singer’. It was only when Laura was sent to legendary voice coach, Paul Farrington, that she was properly diagnosed. “I’ve sorted all that now and am on the right medication. I just have to keep an eye on my diet. It’s a bit annoying but at least I’ve found out now.” Boyzone’s lead singer Ronan Keating soon heard of Laura and they were introduced through her manager. Impressed by her obvious talent, Ronan invited Laura to his annual Emeralds and Ivy Ball which sees all profits going to the Marie Keating foundation, which the singer set up following the death of his beloved mother. They kept in touch and the following year Ronan asked Laura to sing at the event. Asked about the experience, Laura says, “It went really well. There were loads of famous people at the ball and I had a really good time.” When the Boyzone tour came up, Laura’s manager asked if they would have Laura on tour. “Then one day we got a call saying, ‘Would Laura like to do it?’” the singer beams, “It was really nice of them to keep me in mind.” Boyzone have already received rave reviews for the opening night in Belfast which saw huge crowds attending their come back gig. The nerves must have really set in for Laura then. “I really enjoyed it.” She says, “I don’t normally get nervous but seeing the lads jumping up and down and nervous, I was thinking, ‘God this is a big night!’ It got me a little bit more revved up than usual. But I absolutely loved it and I just know this tour is going to be amazing because last night was so good – and it can only get better!” Laura is now making major waves in LA. Despite the fact she’s only been there three times, for two weeks at a time, she has already received interest from huge record labels and TV programmes wanting to use her music. However, a chance email via her My Space page proved to be the biggest success story of all. “A guy emailed me – Jeff – and said how my songs helped him get over the death of his mother. I thought that was really nice – that someone from California would email me randomly.” ‘Jeff’ turned out to be Jeff Arch – the writer behind the iconic romantic comedy Sleepless in Seattle. A friendship was soon formed and Jeff directed one of Laura’s music videos in LA. He is now working on a new romantic comedy and he’s not only written a part for Laura but he’s asked her to write a song for it. With all of that going on, Laura couldn’t possibly have any spare time to partake any charitable activities, right? Wrong. As well as recently - Birmingham Post