Susan Bluechild
Where's her jumper: For some budding pop stars, having a famous relation can either be a burden or an inspiration. Poor Dannii has spent her whole life in the shadow of big sister Kylie. On the other hand, Whitney's cousin Dionne Warwick was a big influence on the young soul star. Susan Bluechild's famous relation is her second cousin, Niall O'Flaherty from Sultans of Ping FC, but don't expect her to sound like a snotty punk in search of a missing sweater. The young singer from Dún Laoghaire sounds more like a cousin of The Corrs or a distant niece of Belinda Carlisle; her current single, Sunrise, has been wafting over the Irish airwaves, and her debut album, Non Stop to Venus, is bound to feature more of the same radio-friendly pop-rock fare.
All I wanna do: It seems that young Susan was destined from an early age to pursue a career in music. Both her mother and older sister were classical pianists, and when Susan showed an interest in becoming an opera singer, no one discouraged her. Little did her parents know just how deep Susan's interest in music ran. Having become enthralled by the music of Sheryl Crow, The Cardigans, Kate Bush, Madonna and Debbie Harry, Susan headed off to London and then Los Angeles in search of fame and fortune. In LA she met top music biz guy Michael Lovesmith, who had worked with some of the greats of soul music, including Aretha Franklin and Isaac Hayes. Lovesmith did his best to broker a record deal for his young protegee, but Susan ended up back in London, broke, unsigned, but not despairing.
Lucky star: Susan had another talent she could draw on to get her through the hard times: tarot reading. While gigging, working in bars and waiting for lady luck to smile on her, Susan made a few bob telling people their fortunes. Eventually, she decided to take her destiny into her own hands, financing and releasing her debut single, Summer Girls. She also played Manchester's In the City festival, where she met her manager, John Weston, and also bagged a slot at a big songwriters' event in Colorado. People from all over started to visit her MySpace page, including one Jonathan Caustrita, the animator of popular cartoon series Family Guy. When he heard Sunrise, he offered to make an animated video for the song. Another tune, If Only, has been snapped up by a company that makes surfing and skating films.
Planets align: Susan will be celebrating the release of Non Stop to Venus with a Dublin gig in Whelan's on Sunday. Admission is free before 9pm, but such is Susan's growing popularity, the "house full" signs could well be going up by half eight. The album comes out on September 15th, but you can get the Sunrise on iTunes.
