Blame it on “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree,” then “Suddenly I See” — these are songs that made KT Tunstall the pop star she never wanted to be.
Recorded live on England’s “Later with … Jules Holland” with the Scottish singer-songwriter singing, playing guitar, tambourine and a loop pedal, “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree” triggered Tunstall’s 2005 nomination for the Mercury Prize, England’s highest musical award, and was named Track of the Year by Q magazine.
With “Suddenly I See” heading up the U.K. and U.S. charts, and “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree” earning a Grammy nomination, Tunstall’s debut album “Eye of the Telescope” became a global smash by selling more than 2 million albums.
“I’m just a terrible pop star,” Tunstall said during a recent phone interview. “I’m a pretty good indie musician, but I’m really not built to be a pop star. Pop meaning popular. Maybe the difference is in the desire, the thing that gets you up in the morning wanting to do it. Mine was never fame and making money. Mine was playing and making stuff.”
“Then I have this wildly successful album that pushes me into being a pop star,” she continued. “I’m eternally grateful for it. It gave me an amazing adventure. But it wasn’t me.”
Nearly two decades after those songs launched her career, Tunstall is heading out on a solo West Coast Tour in support of her latest, more indie-rock record, “Nut.” She’ll be hitting the Belly Up in Solana Beach on Wednesday, June 7; The Troubadour in West Hollywood on Saturday, June 10; Pappy & Harriet’s in Pioneertown on Sunday, June 18; and she’ll be back in the area to play with Frank Tuner at House of Blues Anaheim on Thursday, Sept. 21.
OVERCOMING POP STARDOM
The grind of touring, playing the same songs night after night in venues that all look the same and never getting a chance to experience the places where she would play took its toll on Tunstall, and she began scaling…
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