Paisley<\/a> on 9 January 1987 to Alfredo, a Scot of Italian descent from Barga in Tuscany, and Linda, a lass of Scottish descent.\n<\/p>\n\n The family ran a chip shop, where Paulo helped out at least once: \u201cit wasn\u2019t for him\u201d, his father has said, perhaps because one customer asked him to deep-fry a bag of Maltesers.\n<\/p>\n
\n Karaoke king\n<\/p>\n
\n HE was first encouraged to sing by his music-loving grandfather, Giovanni \u201cJackie\u201d Nutini, and a teacher at his school, St Andrew\u2019s Academy, who recognised his talent.\n<\/p>\n
\n The first time he sang in front of anybody was one New Year\u2019s Eve on the family\u2019s karaoke machine. \u201cEverybody was like, \u2018What?\u2019 Nobody really knew,\u201d he has recalled.\n<\/p>\n
\n Moving further afield, he found singing helped what had hitherto been the then teenager\u2019s lack of \u201cluck with the ladies\u201d. And what did he sing? \u201cIt would\u2019ve been something really cheesy, engineered to get laid,\u201d he told Interview Magazine in 2014. Anyone looking to emulate this shameful example might like to note that Sinatra went down particularly well. Wish I hadn\u2019t told you that now.\n<\/p>\n
\n Nutini left school to work as a roadie and to sell t-shirts for Scottish band Speedway, before landing a role as recording gopher in Glasgow\u2019s Park Lane Studios. Here, he started demoing songs, while an appearance at an open-air gig saw the teenager talent-spotted and whisked away to yonder London, where he performed regularly at The Bedford pub in Balham.\n<\/p>\n
\n Within three years, he was selling out gigs across the UK, not to mention being the support act for The Rolling Stones, Amy Winehouse and KT Tunstall.\n<\/p>\n
\n In 2006, he released no fewer than four singles: free download These Streets; Last Request which charted at number five; Jenny Don’t Be Hasty (20); and Rewind (27).\n<\/p>\n
\n His debut album, These Streets, was also released in 2006, with the aforementioned songs and others chronicling stormy relationships, encounters with an older woman and asking a lover for one more night together, the purpose of this not being clear.\n<\/p>\n
\n Brash and horny\n<\/p>\n
\n HIS second album, Sunny Side Up, went straight to number one in the UK, with more than 60,000 sales. The change in sound attracted mixed reviews. The album was even accused of being \u201cfunky\u201d. A Telegraph writer praised the \u201cjoyous\u201d blend of \u201csoul, country, folk and the brash, horny energy of ragtime swing\u201d. However, a Guardian scribe enthused that it was \u201cnot bad\u201d, with opening track 10\/10 \u201cjaunty enough to make you retch\u201d. Harsh!\n<\/p>\n
\n Sunny Side\u2019s 2014 follow-up Caustic Love was described as being \u201crooted in classic R&B grooves\u201d. Surely not? As I\u2019ve explained authoritatively before, all music with \u201c&\u201d in it is rubbish. Rock good; rock & roll mince. Country good; country & western tripe. Rhythm good; rhythm & blues evil.\n<\/p>\n
\n Whatever, Caustic Love debuted at \u2013 all together now \u2013 number one in the UK Albums Chart. The Independent called it \u201can unqualified success\u201d, and an 18-month tour following the release saw Paulo perform in North America, Europe, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, not forgetting Glasgow\u2019s Bellahouston Park and an audience of 35,000.\n<\/p>\n
\n In 2022, eight years after Caustic Love, he released his fourth album, Last Night in the Bittersweet, described by Hot Press as \u201cgenre-bending\u201d. Experimental but reliably Paulo, it explores the ups and doons of lurve, with opening track Afterneath featuring a sample of Patricia Arquette\u2019s repeated line \u201cYou\u2019re so cool,\u201d from Quentin Tarantino\u2019s film, True Romance.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cTrue Romance,\u201d quoth Paulo, \u201cwas one of those films that immediately stuck with me. Not only the script \u2013 it really goes into the rawness of being in love with someone.\u201d Awright, shurrup aboot it.\n<\/p>\n
\n Paulo has a special love for Barga, the medieval Tuscan town whence the Italian side of his family hails. In 2007, he was awarded the Golden St Christopher medal to celebrate his contributions to the town and its people.\n<\/p>\n
\n In 2012, in an emotional performance, he played a packed concert in the same opera house that previous generations of his family would visit. The singer told the Daily Record: \u201cI\u2019ve been coming here just about every year since I was a baby and it\u2019s the most amazing place in the world \u2026 [It] always feels like coming home.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Read more\n<\/p>\n
\n Just pants\n<\/p>\n
\n AT least, no one threw their underwear at him there, as happened repeatedly in Canada. As he walked off stage at one gig, a bra landed on his mic stand \u2013 \u201ca nice exit shot\u201d.\n<\/p>\n
\n Asked in 2009 if he liked being a sex symbol, Paulo replied: \u201cIt\u2019s the only reason I’m involved in music \u2013 the hope that I’m going to have some underwear thrown at me. Not really, I just try and dodge it.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n It must be awful really \u2013 never getting any peace from pants. He has confessed that he gets recognised hither and yon, telling the BBC: \u201cI don\u2019t see why my look is in any way distinctive, so it surprises me. I think it\u2019s the nose.\u201d Tell you what: that boy\u2019s mirrors are rubbish.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Like many young persons, this week\u2019s Icon got into the music business to \u201cget laid\u201d, something that decent…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":387179,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[156,157,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-387178","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-music","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-newzealand","12":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=387178"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387178\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/387179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=387178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=387178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=387178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}