Spark

To be hailed pop’s latest sensation while still in your teens usually requires hatching a plan in childhood. It tends to involve burning ambition, instrument lessons and starting bands at school. Not so Spark, whose refreshing reinvention of synth-soaked pop owes more to Kate Bush than it does Yazoo. Her rise has instead been inspired by a series of serendipitous events and an almost old-fashioned love of music.

Ever since she wrote her first song aged 12, success has sought out Spark, then known simply as Jess Morgan. When she was 15, her sister entered her in to an XFM busking competition. Jess didn’t busk, but after singing Cyndi Lauper’s Time After Time live on air, she picked up the £3000 prize. At school, she soon became the resident singer/songwriter, sitting on a stool with a guitar, performing her own songs. Then the class requested she cover Kate Bush.

Sweet Jess had been replaced by Spark, an exuberant, electro-loving teen who sang like a cross between Kate Bush and Debbie Harry had they been discovered twenty-five years later. ‘Shut Out The Moon’ would later be released as a limited edition vinyl single and digital download that would be triumphed by Rob da Bank at Radio 1 and playlisted at XFM.

A few months later, Spark was introduced to Marina & The Diamonds by a mutual friend. Immediately captivated by her music, Marina declared her a star and chose her as support on their summer tour, even though she had not yet played in public. Spark put together a two-man band, had a practice show to a crowd of five in Brighton and left school a day early for the opening night of the 14 date tour, where converts queued to ask for her autograph.