Paolo Nutini lets his music do the talking

Published 1:45 pm Thursday, September 20, 2007

Paolo Nutini admits he felt out of his element when he started recording his debut CD, “These Streets.”

“I hadn’t found myself in very many situations like that,” Nutini said. “I had spent years and years in the studio, but just not with (a producer of the caliber) of Ken Nelson. And the band, when I first went in, I had me and the drummer. I had the songs. But the band was sort of starting to evolve. The guitarist in the band now, Donnie (Little), he came in like three weeks into the recording.

“The outcome of the record, I’m very proud of,” Nutini said. “But at the same time, I wish I could revisit it and just sort of (change) 20 percent or 30 percent of them and add some balls a little bit, you know what I mean, a little more conviction to it. I suppose, you know I was thinking about what I didn’t want then, and what I did want got lost.”

Nutini is being a bit hard on himself. After all, he was just 18 in May 2005 when he signed to Atlantic Records. In fact, he hadn’t been pursuing a music career for long at all.

Growing up in Paisley, Scotland, where his parents ran a fish and chips shop that had been in the family for four generations, Nutini had taken an interest in music when he was a young boy.

“My grandfather loved singing,” Nutini said. “He’s passed away now. But he loved singing. He would sing these arias. My father’s father, he loved opera music. And he also loved folk, very traditional folk. … And every Sunday the monsignor from the church would come over and he’d play boogie woogie piano, and I’d call him the boogie woogie priest. I’d be there at 4 or 5 years old, dancing around, playing along, banging a little drum and stuff.”

Naturally, Nutini also was drawn to his father’s record collection, which included a varied assortment of rock albums, as well as Motown, Ray Charles and various other classic soul performers.

One evening when Nutini was 16, he went to a concert, and when the headliner was late, the concert organizer decided to stage an impromptu talent contest.

Nutini was convinced by his girlfriend to go up and sing, and one person in the audience, Brendan Moon, was so impressed he offered to manage Nutini. Couple the solid songs with Nutini’s pleasantly grainy singing voice and the fresh-faced good looks that have already made him a sex symbol, and it’s clear he has all the ingredients for major success.