FAMILY FULFIL

BELDINA Odenyo was being tipped as the next big thing in Scottish music when she tragically ended her life three years ago.

- BY PAUL ENGLISH

The much-lauded musician died at home in Paisley after years of struggling with mental ill-health, days after one of her most acclaimed live performances.

Her death sent shockwaves around the live music community in which she had been collaborating with established acts, building up a devoted fanbase and preparing to release her first album.

Now the Sunday Mail can reveal her family and friends will launch the album Beldina never got to complete. It will be heard for the first time at a gig celebrating her 35th birthday.

The concert and LP are the brainchild of the late performer's sister, Leah McAleer, who Beldina left her songs and writing to.

Leah said: "After Beldina died I discovered the demos she had recorded and had a listen to them. We were all really struck by how powerful, how beautiful they were and how much work she had put into them.

"It was totally unexpected, the arrangement, and precision. So it felt like on a purely creative level they deserved to be heard, and also because she entrusted us with this part of herself. There was a responsibility to her legacy and her creative output, to share the music and give it its place in the world."

Beldina won critical acclaim with sold-out gigs at Glasgow's Tron Theatre and a performance at the Scottish Album of the Year Awards ceremony just days before she ended her life.

Songs she part-recorded for her first album were due to be heard at a headline gig at the Celtic Connections festival.

Next week, three years after that date, the Kenyan-born singer's album will finally will be heard by her fans.