A classical singer about to explode on to the music scene has said she first discovered her talent while at school in Surbiton.

Camilla Kerslake, 21, became the first artist to be signed by Take That songwriting legend Gary Barlow in January, and released her self-titled debut album last week.

The hotly-tipped singer admitted she has been so busy that it had not sunk in yet but, despite her impending success, she has not forgotten her struggle to the top.

It was while in detention at Hollyfield School that she first realised her gift, having until that point had dreams of becoming a doctor.

She said: “A group of us were in detention and began mucking around on the piano, trying to sing higher and higher. Everyone else stopped and I just kept going.

“Then my teacher came in and called me outside. I thought I was in trouble but he said ‘do you realise you’ve just sung four notes higher than the highest note ever written for the human voice?’”

She never looked back and when she broke the news to her parents that she no longer wanted to be a doctor, her father said: “It’s about time you worked that out.”

The former Esher College student’s success did not happen overnight though and securing a contract took perseverance and what some people may call ”stalker behaviour”.

When she heard Gary Barlow had started a record label, she went about her campaign to get signed.

For nearly six weeks she took a demo up to his studios in Ladbroke Grove almost every day, despite studying at Guildford University at the time.

She said: “It’s all about persistence but a lot of it is down to luck too. I’d say to anyone trying to get out there not to listen to those people who tell you that you can’t sing or don’t have the right look because there are a lot of those people out there.”

Since then she has, or is about to, star on the Alan Titchmarsh show, sing with Il Divo, perform for the troops on Christmas Eve and feature on the National Lottery.

But she still lives at home with her parents in Kingston, who are both “embarrassingly proud”, and likes the normality it brings to her life.

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