For most girls, the story goes: you grow up listening to innocuous pop, then go to university and suddenly discover new worlds of niche music. For Fran Lobo, who was raised on a diet of Muddy Waters and Nina Simone, in her very first year at uni, she was discovered by producer Hank Hughes, with whom she recorded an album, and by her second year was supporting Basement Jaxx and Feeder, before being cherry picked to battle it out in the finals for the Orange Unsigned Acts competition.

But there’s a price to pay for being too cool for school. Lobo, who was singing the blues at a time when every other girl was busy teeny bopping, admits: ‘I was tall, dressed like a guy, and sang to myself in a husky man’s voice while listening to old classics on these oversized headphones… I was bullied a lot and had to keep moving classes.’

It’s this refusal to conform and go at it at her own way that makes Fran’s music so unusual. It has the smoky sensuality of oldskool blues, with a sexy sprinkling of jazz and peppered at the edges with rock, all rolled up in the silky smooth sheen of urban pop.

Clearly, the taunts haven’t rocked her esteem or individuality: ‘I’ve been approached by men’s magazines, and as long as I could keep my look and own style, I might take them up on it. I wouldn’t go topless, but I must say I have the occasional perv over FHM. I’m not a lesbian, I just like the beauty of women.’

Nor would her old tormentors stand much of a chance in a scrap should it come to that. With a dark edge to her lyrics, she explains the logic behind her debut single Bang, Bang, Bang: ‘It’s basically about a girl plotting to shoot her boyfriend because he cheated on her.’

Mess with her if you dare...

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