KT Tunstall thinks she “self-sabotaged” her career.
KT Tunstall
The ‘Suddenly I See’ hitmaker always wanted to be a musician but didn’t know how to “handle” overnight success because she hated being famous and the pressures that came from being a well-known artist.
She told the Big Issue magazine: “I would tell that young girl, the young me, stick to your guns, use your gut and don’t hold it all in when you’re feeling upset.
"I think there was an element of self-sabotage in the way I handled things because I didn’t really like being famous.
"It really was a case of overnight success – after I did Jools Holland in 2004 everything changed. It went crazy.
"I was never a magazine cover artist, and I didn’t really want to be and that’s not very helpful if you want to be a rock star. So I didn’t really use the power I had.
“I remember telling myself, nothing will really change. But of course it did.
“Everybody hanging on tenterhooks waiting to see where the next album is going to chart. Being told I couldn’t delay my second record because it was going to make somebody’s share prices drop. That’s not what I wanted.”
The 45-year-old star wishes she could relive the night in 2006 when she won the British Female Solo Artist accolade at the Brit Awards because it meant so much to herself and her parents.
She said: “If I could go back and re-live any moment in my life, I would go back to the Brits in 2006.
“It had been such a long road, and really tough with my family, too. They’d been very worried about me.
"We were at odds for a long time because I was pursuing this career they just didn’t think was going to work.
“But they were at the Brits with me, I have this amazing photo of my dad – he’s passed away now – but in this photo he has this really smug smile on his face, holding my Brit above his head.
"Prince was playing, and my mum turned to me, and she goes, he’s good, isn’t he?
“I met all these incredible artists that I loved. And I won the category I was in alongside Kate Bush and PJ Harvey! I said I was gonna break the head off and give it to Kate Bush.
“And I met Jimmy Page and he said he loved my boots. What an amazing, amazing night and I had such a good time. I’d love to do it all again.”
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