Nutini had no formal music training, and was expecting to follow his father into the family fish and chip shop business. He was first encouraged to sing by his music-loving grandfather and a teacher at his school who recognized his talent. He left school to work as a roadie and to sell t-shirts for Speedway and spent three years learning the music business, performing live, alone and with a band, and working as a studio hand at Glasgow’s Park Lane Studio. His big chance came when he attended a concert for David Sneddon’s return to his home town of Paisley at the beginning of 2003. Sneddon was delayed, and as the winner of an impromptu pop quiz, Nutini was given the chance to perform a couple of songs on stage during the wait. The favorable reaction of the crowd impressed another member of the audience, who offered to become his manager. A Daily Record journalist, John Dingwall, saw him performing at the Queen Margaret Union, and invited him to appear live on Radio Scotland. Still only 17, he moved to London, and performed regularly at the Bedford pub in Balham whilst still legally too young to drink alcohol himself. Other radio and live appearances followed, including two live acoustic spots on Radio London, The Hard Rock Cafe, and support slots for Amy Winehouse and KT Tunstall. Throughout 2006 he has played a number of sell-out concerts in the United Kingdom, and performed at a wide variety of venues worldwide, including King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut in Glasgow, a TV appearance on Later with Jools Holland, the Carnegie Hall in New York, The Montreux Jazz Festival, The Wireless Festival, Oxegen and T in the Park. He supported the Rolling Stones in Vienna and was invited to appear with them again at the Don Valley Stadium in August 2006. He is also booked to appear at the V Festival and The Austin City Limits Music Festival, Texas later this year, with a European tour to follow in the Autumn. In May 2006, he also played at BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend in Dundee. His debut album These Streets, produced by Ken Nelson (Coldplay/Gomez), was released on 17th July 2006 and immediately entered the UK album charts at #3. Many of the songs on the album, including “Last Request” and “Rewind”, were inspired by a turbulent relationship with a girlfriend, and “Jenny Don’t Be Hasty” is a true story about encounters with an older woman. On 29 May 2009 Nutini released his second studio album Sunny Side Up, after the first single from that album, Candy, was released on 18 May. In July, he appeared on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, performing Coming Up Easy. This was released as the second single to the album on 10 August and it debuted at #62 in the UK Singles Chart on 16 August 2009. |
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