Birdy: I dread singing in front of my family – they spot every error

The singer said she also feels uncomfortable with being labelled a 'celebrity'
“So self-conscious”: Birdy loves making music but hates the limelight
John Phillips/Getty
The Weekender

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Singer Birdy told how she “dreads” performing in front of her family as they raise all her mistakes afterwards.

The 20-year-old star, who shot to fame aged 14 with her cover of Bon Iver’s song Skinny Love, said being on stage when her relatives were in the audience was “scary”.

Her mother Sophie Roper-Curzon is a concert pianist, which Birdy said is much more challenging than her own live singing. “When I started out, I was touring a lot in Europe and so it has only really been the past few years that I have started playing some home tours,” she said. “It is scary for me as a lot of my family end up coming to see me. I dread that as I feel just so self-conscious.

“It is always worse when your family are there. It makes it so scary. They know exactly when you have made one tiny mistake and then bring it up later.”

The singer, real name Jasmine Lucilla Elizabeth Jennifer van den Bogaerde, told of her admiration for her mother’s profession. “Whenever I have watched her play, it is so much scarier what she has to do. I admire her for that. You are playing in a room that is completely silent and you can’t get one note wrong. Each piece is like an hour long. I think that is amazing.” Since being discovered six years ago, Birdy has had three hit albums, performed at the 2012 Paralympics opening ceremony and had her songs featured on the soundtrack for the blockbuster Hunger Games franchise.

The star, whose grandfather is a peer and great-uncle was movie star Dirk Bogarde, feels uncomfortable being a celebrity. She recently moved back to her home in Hampshire — on the family estate, Pylewell Park — as she “missed the quiet”.

“I don’t really enjoy the limelight,” she said. “I love just making music and I love that that touches people. Sharing that is amazing. I prefer being in the countryside.”

Birdy, whose third album Beautiful Lies was released a year ago, has spent the past 12 months touring and is now back in the UK concentrating on new material. “It is a huge contrast, doing nothing and just being at home.”

She is also performing at Somerset House as part of the venue’s Summer Series, alongside Norah Jones, Warpaint and Goldfrapp. She said of the gig: “My mum heard about it and really wanted to come. Maybe I will allow her.”

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Summer Series at Somerset House with American Express runs July 6-16.

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