YOU may not yet have heard the name Pixie Lott, but the chances are you very soon will.

Following in the footsteps of recent UK divas Joss Stone, Amy Winehouse, Lily Allen and Duffy, she is the next female vocalist in line for superstardom.

Incredibly easy on the eye, Pixie sounds every bit as fabulous as she looks. She has a rich, rounded voice, with all the vocal maturity of a seasoned soul diva.

But at the age of just 18, she is only now making her first tentative steps into the world of pop and will be releasing her debut single Mama Do on June 8, with the album to follow in September.

Pixie, who plays Plymouth Pavilions as support for The Saturdays on July 1, has been working towards this moment for the past three years or so and only played her first ever live show very recently.

"That was probably the most exciting thing that's happened so far," says Pixie, "We've been working on the album so long, that it's great to get some of these songs out in the open."

She performed a showcase session for Radio 2 just over a month ago.

"It was fantastic at last to work with a live band and gospel singers having spent so much time working on the songs in the studio. It's weird, people probably think it's an overnight thing as I suppose I did before I knew how the music industry worked…"

Far from it, Pixie has been honing her craft ever since she can remember.

"I always used to sing around the house for family and friends and when I found out that there was a secondary school that specialised in teaching singing and dancing I just had to go there."

Fortunately she managed to bag a rare scholarship and attended stage school at the Barbican in London from the age of 11.

When she was 14 she begged her mum to allow her to audition for an ad in The Stage, "seeking the next pop diva".

Needless to say she was not only successful at that audition, but as a result she soon found herself in New York working on demos and by the age of 16 had acquired a management deal with a US company whose roster also included Black-Eyed Peas.

"One day when I was at school I got a message saying that LA Reid wanted to meet me – I had no idea who he was and I'd never done any meetings…"

As she soon discovered, he's a three times Grammy Award winning record executive, songwriter and record producer and he was one of many of the music biz elite that she would meet and/or work with. Others included a variety of top songwriters from around the world with whom she collaborated on writing her debut album.

"I think it's so important to be involved with the songwriting," says Pixie, "I think people can tell if it's your own song – it makes it so much more personal and singing live can be so much more honest.

"There's a soul element to the sound but we didn't want the album to sound dated – and because it was recorded in LA, New York, Atlanta and a variety of other places I think it's got a great universal appeal."

Pixie admits that of all the tracks on the album the ones she enjoys doing most are the tear-jerkers: "Cry Me Out, I particularly love because you can really get into the emotion of the song."

Now she can't wait to get out there to unleash the songs on an unsuspecting public and see what sort of reaction she gets. So she's really looking forward to her first full tour, supporting The Saturdays.

"I really like what The Saturdays do because they brought pop back in a really cool way. But I have to say that my real absolute favourite singers are all the really big belters – like Mariah, Whitney, Alisha Keys, Stevie Wonder."

If she fulfils the potential many are predicting, this little girl with the big voice could very soon be up there with them.

Tickets for the show are still available by calling 0845 146 1460.