Paolo Nutini - These Streets

17th July 2006

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Introducing Paolo Nutini, a 19-year-old singer/songwriter from Paisley, Scotland, and his debut album 'These Streets'.

Nutini's songs suggest he knows an awful lot about the vicissitudes of life and love, and demonstrate his unique gift for expressing in song the attitudes and experiences of someone his age.

'These Streets' records his experiences of moving to London, a song which wistfully name checks the places in which he grew up and is sure to strike a chord with anyone who has ever lived in bedsit-land.

Many of the songs on the album, including 'Last Request' and 'Rewind', were inspired by a turbulent relationship with a girlfriend, and 'Jenny Don't Be Hasty' is a true story about encounters with an older woman.

Despite the Italian name, the Nutini family have lived in Paisley for at least four generations. Paolo's great-grandfather opened the fish and chip shop in Paisley, which his parents now run. Nutini grew up hanging out and later working in the shop but was always surrounded by music.

His grandfather - commemorated in the elegiac 'Autumn' on the album - played him Scottish folk songs by the Corries and a local priest would often come round to play boogie-woogie on the family piano. Exposure to '50s rock'n'roll came via his father's love of the Drifters, and amongst an aunt's record collection he found a Ray Charles album, which began his love of classic soul.

Further influences include the work of such classic troubadours as John Martyn and Van Morrison. When the opportunity arose to tour the UK as a roadie for a friend's band, Paolo quit school in Glasgow and the die was cast.

After moving to London, he performed regularly at the Bedford in Balham, later signing to Atlantic Records shortly after his 18th birthday.