Interview - Amy Macdonald: A curiously normal life is still Amy's thing

In a world where music stars are becoming more (in)famous for their tiresome extra-curricular activities than their day jobs, Amy Macdonald seems like a delightful prospect.

You won't see this Scottish starlet punching photographers or being carried out of bars by her minders. You're unlikely to read anything salacious about her private life either.

"I can't see why anyone would like people to see them falling out of a club. I just can't work it out," she says.

"Why would you want a picture of yourself in the paper looking terrible? I just love music, and I do this because of that. I'm so passionate about music and I love going on stage performing to people, so I don't need to see myself in Heat magazine. I just don't care about that."

Amy puts her level-headed approach to fame down to the fact she still lives in Glasgow, a city in which stars don't have to fend off the paparazzi like they do in London.

"Because that culture's not here, it's very easy to have a normal life up here", she says, "and I wouldn't want to live anywhere else. If I did move to London and my life completely changed and I was getting followed all the time, I don't know how I'd deal with that," she says, seeming genuinely terrified at the thought.

"I think I'll stay here and be normal for as long as humanly possible."

But if she carries on in the same way with her music, she may not have much say in the matter.

Amy's debut album, This Is The Life, was released in July 2007 and went on to sell more than three million copies around the world – a million of those in the UK.

She's a household name in her native Scotland, a Radio Two favourite, and equally as big in Germany where she tours "almost constantly".

Amy's new album, A Curious Thing, was released earlier this month, and

early signs are that it will do every bit as well.

"I was so nervous and a little bit anxious about this one," admits the 22-year-old. "There are so many people waiting to hear it; it's

nerve-racking waiting to see if they like it.

"I have a really bad habit of checking figures and things, though. I'm constantly on iTunes and Amazon looking at where it is in their charts. It's a bad thing to do, but I can't help it," she says.

The album was recorded last year during a break in Amy's manic touring schedule. Sessions for the album largely took place in her manager and producer Pete's studio, but for two songs, Love Love and This Pretty Face, they decamped to Paul Weller's Black Barn studios.

"It was amazing to be in his studio, and so inspiring with all his platinum and gold discs on the wall and all his guitars there. Much better than some generic studio."

As well as providing the studio for those songs, The Modfather also dropped in to play guitar and bass on the tracks.

"It was a last-minute thing, he just came in and said he wanted to play something, so it's great having him on the album, an honour.

"You don't say no if Paul Weller wants to play on one of your songs," she says, before admitting she missed out on the former Jam man's appearance.

"Unfortunately, I wasn't there when he was recording. I had to go

on tour, but my producer, Pete, was there and had that strange job of saying, 'Can you do that bit again?'"

Of course, these are the circles Amy moves in these days. Her friendship with Weller and his bandmate, Steve Cradock, started when she supported him on tour. She also has an admirer in Hollywood star Gerard Butler.

Her meeting with him gets its very own song on the album, An Ordinary Life, which has a dig at the Z-listers she saw flocking around the actor at the opening of his film, Law Abiding Citizen, last year.

Despite Butler raving about how much he liked Amy's music, she was put off going to talk to him by the stragglers and hangers-on.

"I thought, 'This is bizarre, this Hollywood actor telling me I rock and I'm amazing!' But that night there were so many people there just so hungry for fame. All these people were round him like flies on, you know..."

"So that song's actually about him," she continues. "You're in this room and everyone's looking at you. For me, I've still got that ordinary life."

Amy MacDonald plays Leeds O2 Academy, March 31. 0113 389 1555.

AMY MACDONALD

Amy was born in Bishopbriggs, a small town near Glasgow.

She cites Travis as her biggest influence. As the story goes, she was given 10 by a grandparent as a small child, with which she went to town and bought their album, The Man Who. She also picked up the guitar for the first time after hearing them play and wanting to learn it herself.

As well as Gerard Butler, there are also songs on A Curious Thing about Jamie Bulger (Spark), written after she saw a documentary about the murdered toddler, and another, Don't Tell Me That It's Over, about an unnamed, well-known pop star preaching to a crowd at a European awards show. "It's not Kanye West or Bono," she says.

Amy is engaged to Partick Thistle striker Steve Lovell.