WHEN it came to developing his voice, Antony Hegarty took his cues from other singers. “It’s what all the other animals do ­ you learn by listening.” In his case, black American singers provided the inspiration: “They’re the ones who really know what’s going on.”

One of his first inspirations was Nina Simone. “She is one of the greatest teachers you can have as a vocalist. I totally immersed myself in her work and her approach. I really learned to sing and find my way from watching how she dealt with a song and applied her voice to her experiences. It took years and it only really came together when I started to invest more emotion in it.”

Then, there was Ray Charles. “I remember when I was 18 hearing him sing “Yesterday” and it was a revelation. To hear him doing it with so much ecstatic energy was life- changing for me – it made me realise you could really raise spirits as a singer. I thought I understood Yesterday and then he shifed the song and I went ‘ah, OK!’. You can make a different investment in a song.”

Hegarty also tips the cap to Little Jimmy Scott. “I saw him perform at Joe’s Pub in New York ages ago and then Hal Willner started talking to me about him. I saw him recently at the Iridium. He’s in a wheelchair now but he sings like an angel. A gorgeous man.

“I wanted to do something special for that show at Carnegie Hall and I thought if there’s one thing I should do, it’s to bring on someone who deserves to be on that stage. It was fantastic to have Little Jimmy there.”