"I have been into musical all my life. My first love was when I was about 2 years old and I first started singing to Abba. I would sing every word from every song round the house. My mum was a massive fan and she was a singer too, so I would just copy her."
Scarlet BaxterScarlet Baxter is one of Sony's new musical prodigies. The singer/songwriter is gearing up to release her new single 'Backsliding' later this month, and an EP is slated to drop later on in the year.
Hoping to showcase exactly what's to come from the star who has already worked with the likes of Jud Mahoney, John McLaughlin and Natalie DeLucia, she's gained praise from London's BBC Introducing as 'One to Watch' following her gig with Gavin Crowley.
"I grew up listening to all the female divas, like Christina Aguilera, Lauryn Hill, Mariah Carey, Shania Twain, Beyoncé, Ashanti, Whitney Houston, Tina Arena, Erykah Badu... I was really into the female power houses and I always wanted to be like them. I would pretend that I was them. I was either making up songs in my room or pretending to be in the music videos of my favourite artists. I knew that this was the career I just had to eventually pursue." Scarlet says.
And pursue it she did, performing from the young age of 9 when she began taking on local stage productions, and sticking to the musical theatre side of things until she was a young adult at 21.
Scarlet Baxter"I still knew that the music industry was where my main focus really was, so it wasn't until I graduated from Mountview - which is where I trained in Musical Theatre for 3 years - that I realised it wasn't what I wanted to do.
"I wanted to do music so desperately and perform as myself, as an artist, so I started to just focus on being an artist in the music industry and that is absolutely what I want to do.
"I took myself back to the younger years when I was pretending to be a pop star in my bedroom, because that's where I feel the most passion in performing."
Scarlet Baxter's single 'Backsliding' is released August 18.