If a diva can be described as ballsy, Mica Paris can. Tall, imperiously built and endowed with a voice that can peel wallpaper at 40 paces, Meesh delivers a killer show while paradoxically seeking constant reassurance.

"Can you feel me out there?" she asked after reminding us of her age ("Thanks for coming out to see the old girl. It's been 20 years since my first album was released, and that's really embarrassing"), knocking her appearance ("It's only makeup that keeps this face together") and practically apologising for being alive.

This must be an act, because nobody could feel insecure after hearing her audience sing and clap along before the second number is out.

Near to Me and We Are Two in a Million grooved along mightily with a little fuzz-wah help from her guitarist Guillermo Hill, the voices of her two backing vocalists and smooth-soul tenor-sax licks from Carl Stanley.

Her sensational set-closer, Put a Spell on You, owed more to Aretha Franklin than Nina Simone, but it answered any questions about whether Mica's melismatic voice could handle jazz changes. It most certainly could, and with a two-tiered ooh-WAH throat-control option that added meat to the lyrics.

London's legion of pale, waif-like Norah Jones clones should be marched into Ronnies and forced to catch a performance like this before presuming to appear behind a microphone again.