IT SEEMS that the sky is the limit for 18-year-old singing sensation Pixie Lott, after she stormed to the top of the singles charts last weekend. Her debut single, Mama Do, which features her now trademark clap, is sitting pretty at No 1 after the track s

IT SEEMS that the sky is the limit for 18-year-old singing sensation Pixie Lott, after she stormed to the top of the singles charts last weekend.

Her debut single, Mama Do, which features her now trademark clap, is sitting pretty at No 1 after the track's popularity gathered pace over the past few weeks.

Pixie, of Brentwood - a former student at the Italia Conti stage school at the Barbican - had been studying performing arts, but always hankered after a career in music, after being influenced as a child by singers like Stevie Wonder and "divas like Whitney, Britney, Mariah and Christina".

I managed to grab some phone time with her last week as she whizzed between gigs in Newcastle and Glasgow supporting The Saturdays and she explained she simply didn't have any time to think about the coveted No 1 slot.

"Thankfully it's a busy week and a long week, but all eyes are on Sunday when we'll find out the chart position. I'm doing so many interviews on the road, and then the shows, in between, that I'm not having much time to think about it. It would obviously be amazing though.''

Not so long ago Pixie was having to use her older sister Charlie Ann's ID to try to get into nightclubs like Sugar Hut in Brentwood, and even got thrown out of Sam's once when she was rumbled by the security.

Now 18, and the toast of the music industry, Pixie literally has the keys to the city and is a name club owners across the UK and beyond will want on their guest lists.

So how is she handling all the attention? "I'm enjoying every minute of it and I want to get involved in as many things as possible, so I can't complain. And because I went to a stage school that has really helped, because I know what to expect."

After her success at an open audition for music management three years ago, Pixie has been back and forth to America working with top producers out there, and was reluctant to even take her GCSEs because she'd spent so much time in the States. But she got eight straight As.

"I was totally surprised, " she explains. "But I didn't bother with any A-levels and have been concentrating on co-writing my album ever since."

Mama Do is the first track from that album and the full collection will be released shortly.

And before things get too crazy, Pixie - who's family moved to Brentwood, just off the Ingrave Road, from Kent six years ago - is trying to grab as much time back home with her family.

"I love Brentwood. It's a really cute place to live and I'm really glad we all moved there when we did."

- MATT TROLLOPE