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CELESTE Leicester/Birmingham

WHILE still basking in the glow of her recent announcement as the winner of the 2020 BRITs Rising Star award, Celeste will be heading to Leicester De Montfort Hall on Tuesday, March 10, when she will be supporting singer-songwriter Michael Kiwanuka.

The soul singer, who has just released her single Stop This Flame, says: “In essence, Stop This Flame is a song about seeing it through to the end.

“Whether it’s about not letting go of love, not letting go of a dream or stridently coming through some form of adversity. The song has always evoked those feelings within me.”

Brighton-raised Celeste credits her maternal grandfather for introducing her to the legendary artists who would go on to influence her sound, a modern take on the timeless, heartache-tinged soul of smoky jazz bars and velvet-voiced storytellers.

Her grandad would play cassette tapes of Aretha Franklin and Ella Fitzgerald on repeat in his old Jaguar.

“In my songwriting I’m far more inspired by heartbreak,” she says now. “There’s a darkness even though some songs are underlined with optimism. Those moments were far more thought-provoking for me.”

With teenage years spent in bedroom jam sessions practising covers of everything from Sly And The Family Stone, The Clash and The Specials to Alice Coltrane, Janis Joplin, Thelonious Monk and Ray Charles, eventually the entirely self-taught artist found her own voice, writing her first original compositions.

Honing her sound over the following years the young artist has garnered critical acclaim for releases including her breakout Lately EP and singles including Father’s Son.

■ Celeste plays De Montfort Hall Leicester on Tuesday, March 10 (supporting Michael Kiwanuka). Tickets: demontforthall.co.uk, 0116 233 3111, from: £29.