EXCLUSIVE HOW

Scots singer got her break when Beautiful South star discovered her cover of his song online and asked her to tour with him... now she's vying with Sabrina Carpenter

- BY PAUL ENGLISH

FIVE years ago Rianne Downey was posting videos of herself singing cover versions online hoping someone would notice.

This weekend, she’s sat next to megastar Sabrina Carpenter in the Top 40. The Bellshill singer's remarkable rise from bedroom wannabe to chart star is the stuff of fairytales, having been plucked from obscurity by former Beautiful South singer Paul Heaton.

The frontman was on the lookout for a new co-singer after collaborator Jacqui Abbott turned away from making music to take care of her son.

Heaton came across Rianne's version of Beautiful South hit Rotterdam and asked her to join him for his tour in 2023.

Since then she’s toured the UK with Heaton, performing hit songs to tens of thousands of fans on some of the world’s biggest stages.

And the incredible springboard has now won Rianne her own following, with thousands having already bought her debut album, which was released at the weekend.

Now the 26-year-old hopes she can carry on up the charts. She said: “The album came out last week and we found out Id got in the top 10 in the midweek chart which is head and shoulders above anything I could have expected. I thought Td be lucky to get into the top 40 let alone the top 10.

“In the midweek chart I was number 10 and Sabrina

Carpenter was at 9. I was very chuffed at that, I absolutely love her.