WHO THE HELL IS. . .

. . . Rob Reynolds

Copy this: You're on the tube, heading for work, when you notice someone has left a CD on the seat next to yours. Attached is a note urging you to copy the CD onto your MP3 player and leave the original somewhere for someone else to find. Is this some kind of prank? A sneaky way to spread a virus? Or maybe a trick by the record industry to entrap people into piracy so they can whip up anti-internet paranoia? No, this really is a giveaway, a sampler CD of songs from an album called Sightseeing by a young singer-songwriter named Rob Reynolds. Why is Reynolds giving away his music for nothing, but also inviting all and sundry to copy it and distribute it free to friends, neighbours and strangers? The reason, says his record label, Invisible Hands, is to raise Reynolds's profile by creating "the world's biggest street team". Label boss Charlie Kennedy reckons it's a cost-effective way to create a buzz about their talented young charge, and so far it's working. Visitors to Rob's site (www.robreynolds.co.uk) have reported finding the CD in La Defense in Paris, in a McDonalds in Tokyo, and in the ladies' loo of a Surrey hotel.

Telly addict: Rob Reynolds was born in Portsmouth and grew up in Harrogate, where he sang in numerous jazz and blues-influenced bands, impressing with his big, soulful voice and striking, dyed green hair. But life was hard for this young Yorkshireman. His parents suffered from ill-health, forcing Rob to drop out of school to care for them. He didn't completely miss out on an education, though: having spent much of his teens soaking up trivia in front of the TV, Rob was the man to have on your pub quiz team. After his father died, Rob upped sticks and moved to London. "I could either stay there and keep fucking up my life or start again and make the most of what my Dad passed on to me," he says.

In sight: For his 1997 debut album, Waiting for the Tide, Rob borrowed musicians and knob-twiddlers from Primal Scream, Jethro Tull and Lenny Kravitz, Sting and Prince. The album features a cover of jazz standard Stormy Weather, which many goatee-strokers consider the definitive version. But it was Reynolds's "moody grooves" which caught people's attention. He recorded his current album in 2003, but it's only now, thanks to an innovative marketing campaign, that Reynolds's music is getting the notice many feel it roundly deserves.

Mama said: The first single off the album, Sweet Mother, is "about how we as a species treat this planet and each other," explains Rob. He played Glastonbury last year, appeared at MIDEM in Cannes, and won the Baltic Song Contest in Malmo, Sweden, in front of an audience of 10 million viewers. He also guested on Hazel O'Connor's album and toured with Christy Hennessy, sealing his reputation among Irish audiences. He returned for a low-key gig in Dublin's Pravda last Sunday.