Paolo Nutini went from singing his songs in Dundee’s Overgate to becoming an established global force in the space of a few weeks.
The Paisley star performed at Fopp Records on July 3 2006 where he played tracks which would eventually feature on his debut album These Streets.
Almost immediately he found himself adding new and bigger dates to his UK tour, also supporting the Rolling Stones around Europe.
From the chip shop to chart success
Nutini – who is returning to perform at Fat Sam’s Live in September after the release of his fourth album Last Night in the Bittersweet – was destined for a life serving fish suppers at the family chippy in his hometown until fate intervened.
It was his great-grandfather who moved from Italy to Scotland and opened the chippy, in which the young Paolo often helped out.
But music was always a major part of his life, thanks largely to his grandad, who introduced him to The Corries.
Later, delving into his parents’ record collections, he discovered The Drifters and Ray Charles.
Nutini performed in the school choir but never thought he’d end up singing.
Initially he wanted to be a goalkeeper, but the more he sang the more he realised it was something he could do almost without effort.
By 16, he left school to become a part-time roadie for a friend’s band, but his long-term future seemed to smell of chip fat, with the lure of the family business always there.
But then everything changed, thanks in part to Scots Fame Academy winner David Sneddon.
When Paisley-born Sneddon returned home in triumph, he was due to appear at the town hall and Nutini was dragged there by a girlfriend.
As part of the warm-up, a music quiz was organised – which Nutini won. The prize was to get on stage and sing for the crowd!
Once he started, fans went mad, and he was spotted by manager Brendan Moon.
And it wasn’t long before he was off to London to record an album; he initially told his dad he’d stay at the shop but Alfredo wouldn’t hear of it.
Cutting his teeth in pubs and clubs
Nutini was signed to Atlantic Records and the high quality of songwriting demonstrated he was not afraid to deal with deeply personal issues in his lyrics.
They reflected on everything from girlfriend troubles to, well, other girlfriend troubles.
Nutini was sent round the pub, club and cabaret circuit during 2005 to cut his performing teeth and gain experience of playing the songs to a live audience.
These dates included a gig at the 250-capacity Westport Bar in Dundee but nobody at the time could have predicted how successful he would become.
He played upstairs that night at the North Lindsay Street venue and returned to the city in May 2006 after releasing the track These Streets as a free download.
Nutini then kicked off Radio 1’s Big Weekend at Camperdown Park and dedicated his closing song to DJ Jo Whiley who had been championing his music.
He returned to the City of Discovery several weeks later after announcing details of a plethora of in-store events to promote his first official single Last Request.
Fopp Records in the Overgate was chosen as the first in-store event where Nutini signed copies and sang songs from his first album, These Streets, released a fortnight later.
Fans got up close and personal with the singer at the intimate Overgate gig but he quickly graduated from pubs to stadiums when the single hit No3.
However, he’s been a regular visitor to Dundee over the years, including a performance at Fat Sam’s Live in September 2006 and the Caird Hall in October 2009.
Nutini became good friends with our very own Kyle Falconer and lent his vocals to The View’s track Covers from the band’s second album Which Bitch?.
Falconer joined Nutini on stage at the Caird Hall to perform the song after speaking fondly of his Dundee fans.
He brushed aside suggestions he was a world star despite the overwhelming success of his second studio album Sunny Side Up which debuted at number one.
“There’s always somebody from Dundee, wherever we go,” he said.
“I’m telling you, even when we’re in America people come up to me and say: ‘I saw you playing in Fat Sam’s’.
“Last night in Manchester, me and my girlfriend were in a bar and the waitress was Scottish, we asked where she was from and she said Dundee and we spent the next 10 minutes talking about the Westport Bar and how mental it was.
“I was thinking how good it would be to go back and do another show there.
“Then a bunch of lads from Forfar were singing Flower of Scotland, which always goes down well with the English security men.
“After the show I met a couple of Dundee guys, I was signing stuff outside the venue and chatting to them.”
And on his progression from playing the 250-capacity venue in Dundee to selling out the Caird Hall – which was nearly 10 times the size – in just over three years, he insisted the Westport Bar was about the biggest capacity he felt comfortable with.
“It has been a major progression to get to this stage, but I’m not sure I want to go any further with that,” he said.
“It’s nice but I don’t really count us as being an arena band. It doesn’t really suit us.
“We just did the Hammersmith Apollo, which was nice – the theatre sound really just suits us down to the ground.
“But exhibition halls like the SECC, I just can’t see us doing them.
“We did five nights at the Carling Academy and I’d rather do that. It’s got a warmth you don’t get at the bigger gigs – it’s more intimate.
“I’m not pretending that I’m playing the same show as Kasabian or that, you know.
“Obviously at festivals everybody’s having a party, but you can see other gigs where it’s more like everybody’s paying attention to what you’re doing and really taking it in.
“As a singer-songwriter you get a lot more encouragement from those shows and the reactions where you see the shoulders moving but they’re really watching and listening-it’s half the battle getting that reaction to your songs.
“You need the audience to get what’s happening on stage, you know.
“I still have my own little things on stage, maybe something goes a bit wrong and I go inside myself.
“It’s like closing my eyes-people ask me why I do it but it’s because there’s something going on, I’m really getting into it.
“There’s a lot of different ways of delivering a show.”
It was no surprise the singer’s Fat Sam’s gig sold out last week, within seconds of tickets being made available.
These Streets have missed him.
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