My Busking was trash...literally

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Family man: despite a Brit Award and huge sales, Morrison has kept his feet on the ground

Lily Allen take note. James Morrison has advice on how to win friends and influence people. "I don't feel that clean-cut, but I think when you're not cocky or slagging people off people see you that way."

Of course, the danger is that they might not see anything about you at all - something else Morrison knows all about.

In 2006, Morrison, who is now 24, sold more albums than any other male artist in the UK. He won a Brit Award and played the Concert For Diana.

Two years on, the worry is that people will have forgotten who he is.

While fellow crooner James Blunt has been gallivanting about as a pop playboy, Morrison has been spending time with his family - his girlfriend Gill gave birth to a daughter last weekend - and working on a new album Songs For You, Truths For Me.

You Make It Real, the first single, is about Gill keeping him down to earth.

And she certainly seems to be doing a good job. Morrison could be one of the most normal men in pop. He says he does the washing-up, takes the bins out and is a mean cook.

"I'm just a normal guy, I can make pastry and quiche. But I'm not a Masterchef, I'm not a f**king Gordon Ramsay or whatever."

Hearing Morrison swear is a bit like getting the London Lite thrust into your hand. It happens surprisingly often, but you're always glad when it does.

It all adds to his guy-next-door appeal which teenage girls buy into - as well as, apparently, weird blokes in their twenties.

"There's this one guy who showed up at every gig for about eight weeks. Every day he was there right at the front staring at me the whole way through the set. That was really bizarre."

Given that he started off as a busker ("You'd get people putting condoms, mouldy yogurt pots and s**t in your guitar case") and was turned down by Fame Academy ("I didn't want to go on some cheesy show anyway," he sniffs), Morrison's done well for himself.

There's still that squeaky-clean image to deal with, though. So what's the most shocking thing he's ever done?

There's a long pause. "There's been a couple of times when I've got p****d and puked outside the tour bus."

Lily Allen beware - you've got competition.

 

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