Katie rocks up for rollercoaster ride

Singing sensation Katie Melua is looking forward to her upcoming gig in Shrewsbury's Quarry park - because she loves performing in the great outdoors.

Melua, who has amassed a fortune estimated at £18 million after enjoying success with hits like Closest Thing To Crazy and Nine Million Bicycles, will appear at The Quarry on July 11.

She said: "I love performing outdoors. It's a lot more chilled. Performing live is what's it's all about. It's the only chance I get to see people reacting to my songs."

Melua will perform songs from her three albums, including tunes from her debut smash Call Off The Search.

She said: "I've experienced a lot of things since then. I've come a long way. When I think back about some of the things I've experienced, I wonder why it all seemed so normal at the time."

Katie Melua enjoyed her first number one at the age of 19. Call Off The Search, sold 1.8 million copies in its first five months.

She's appeared in South Africa for Nelson Mandela's HIV charity, serves as a goodwill ambassador to the charity Save the Children, and buys her clothes from Oxfam - even though the Sunday Times included her in its 2008 rich list, calculating her fortune at £18 million.

She's been the UK's best-selling female artist for two years running, and even had a tulip named after her.

But the thing that really makes Melua tick isn't number ones, millions in the bank, awards or tulips. She loves nothing more than riding a rollercoaster, deep-sea diving or skydiving.

"I love roller coasters and adrenaline sports," says Melua. "There is a sense of escapism in doing something like that. I love the surrender. Every cell in your body tells you not to do it, but you do the complete opposite.

"Your body goes through all sorts of chemical reactions. In music, lots of people turn to drugs, but that's an unoriginal way to get high. I like adrenaline sports instead."

Ketevan Melua was born in Kutaisi, Georgia, which then was part of the Soviet Union, in 1984, and spent her first years with her grandparents in the capital Tbilisi before moving, with her parents and brother, to the town of Batumi, Ajaria where her father worked as a heart specialist.

Living conditions were far from easy and at times she would carry buckets of water up five flights of stairs to her family's flat. Following the Georgian Civil War, in 1993, the family moved to Belfast and her father took up a position at the Royal Victoria Hospital.

She planned to become either a historian or a politician but that changed in 2000, at the age of 15, when Melua took part in a talent competition on ITV called Stars Up Their Noses, a spoof of Stars in Their Eyes. Melua won by singing Badfinger's Without You.

She later attended the BRIT School for the Performing Arts in Croydon, undertaking a BTEC with an A-level in music. She met her future manager, producer Mike Batt, when studying.

In November 2003, at the age of 19, she released Call Off The Search, which topped the UK album charts and featured the hit Closest Thing To Crazy.

She says: "I think I was in shock for about two years. What's funny is that it seemed so normal at the time. I remember when a copy of Call Off The Search was pushed into my hand. I was so amazed to hold this thing in my hand."

Her second album, Piece by Piece, was released in September 2005. It has gone platinum four times in the UK and contained the hit Nine Million Bicycles.

Melua adds: "Closest Thing to Crazy and Call Off The Search were so huge that I didn't know what the second one would do. But Nine Million Bicycles surprised everyone. People loved it or hated it. Some thought it was ridiculously silly, others just loved it.

"It was a record that got a reaction. I've grown to love it more and more. It was so different and strange. It's really beautiful to sing."

Last year, she released her third album, Pictures In October, which marked the end of her creative collaboration with mentor Mike Batt, famed for his Wombles records.

Katie says: "He's still my manager and I'm on his label. We didn't have a major fallout. I just decided I wanted to write my own songs."

You'd expect Melua to have a passion for Eva Cassidy, Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell. That used to be true. But these days she also rocks out to Led Zeppelin, Black Keys, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club or enjoys the soulful, country tunes of Bobby Gentry.

On July 11, Melua will play The Quarry, in Shrewsbury, as part of a UK tour, which includes shows in Glastonbury and Birmingham's NEC Arena on November 6.

She is looking forward to her first gig in Shropshire: "I love playing gigs full stop. It's the only point when you get to see an audience's reaction. I can't wait. The fact that the gig in Shrewsbury is outside will mean it's a bit more chilled."

"But it will be a full-on, pretty big show. There are six of us in the band and we do tend to rock out quite a lot. People say my CDs are quite different to my live shows.

"When I'm on stage in front of 5,000 people, I can play the music I want in the way I want to do it. Love it. The feeling I get is incredible, out of this world."

It's almost as enjoyable as deep-sea diving, paragliding and riding a rollercoaster.

By Andy Richardson