Twenty-four-year-old singer songwriter Natty hails from North London. He started writing songs from an early age, and eventually found himself working in a top London recording studio as a tea boy, before working his way up to the position of engineer.

After working on albums with the likes of Duran Duran, Chic's Nile Rodgers and Razorlight, he quit to concentrate on his own music.

He started to get attention after a series of open mic nights and later recorded a series of underground mixtapes. He's now signed to a major label and his debut single Cold Town is out now.

Natty also begins his UK tour tonight and finishes on June 15.

We caught up with him while he was putting the finishing touches to his debut album, which is expected in June.

YOU USED TO WORK IN A STUDIO. HOW WAS THAT?

I enjoyed my time there, I really did. I sat in on sessions for lots of people and did bits and pieces. I worked with Razorlight, Mos Def, Queen, Nile Rodgers from Chic. It was a really posh studio, so you got to meet all sorts of different people. Razorlight's first album was kind of a big break for me, and I had some other big bands ringing me to work on their music afterwards, but I turned them down and quit my job when I realised it wasn't for me. I need to be creative and do my own thing.

HOW HAS THAT TIME HELPED YOU MAKE YOUR OWN MUSIC?

Well I'm very hands-on when I'm recording, which comes from my time in the studio, but also from the fact I'm a control freak! But then this isn't just a career, it's my life. Sonically, because I know what I'm talking about, if I have a vision for something, then I go for it and know how I can get the sounds I'm after.

HOW WAS PERFORMING ON LATER WITH JOOLS HOLLAND FOR THE FIRST TIME?

I was so, so nervous, I can't tell you how nervous I was. A friend of mine said I looked like a rabbit caught in some headlights. When I watched it back, I was cringing. It sounded really different on TV too. I thought it sounded better on the night. But it's a learning curve for me, and it was very cool to be there.

WHEN DID YOU START WRITING SONGS?

I think when I was about 11. I never wanted to sing though, I just wrote because I had to. There was no pressure, I had no plans to be a singer or to write a hit, I just wrote. I stopped writing when I was 13 or 14 and started making beats instead, making computer-based music. Songwriting just grew on me, and I went back to the guitar when I was 17 after I'd had my phase of thinking I was going to be an MC or DJ. Then I joined the studio, but I think it goes without saying the main reason I got a job there was to get free time in the studio to work on my own music.

HOW OLD ARE THE SONGS THAT'LL GO ONTO YOUR DEBUT ALBUM?

All of them were written in the last three or four years. I've got about 200 or 300, you know, just bits and pieces, ideas and scraps of songs. I think I have about 80 complete songs, which were then cut back to the 10 or 11 that'll go on the album.

TELL US ABOUT THE SINGLE COLD TOWN.

It's about London, and it just came out of a vibe or a feeling that I sensed a while ago. I guess it was about six months after the July bombings, and the city didn't feel right. There was racial tension all over, a lot of things going on with hoodie culture and kids stabbing each other. I just put all those things into words, trying to work out how it fitted together. The song's a picture of London and its complexities.

Natty plays at the HiFi Club in Leeds on June 5. Tickets are available from Jumbo and Crash Records.

For more on Natty click here.