Liv Dawn admits that being nominated for a prestigious BBC award was an honour in itself, after making it to the final four of a nationwide competition for singer-songwriters.
It represents a huge achievement for the 21-year-old, who lacked the confidence to perform in front of her own family until fairly recently.
Liv, whose full name is Olivia Haggarty, is originally from Alexandria but now lives in Croftamie, was one of a select few picked from an entry of thousands for the BBC’s singer-songwriter of the year award, pitching her up against some of the country’s best young musical talent.
However her story is an unusual one, having only felt confident enough to perform after her 15th birthday.
The former Vale of Leven Academy pupil told the Lennox Herald: “I had always loved singing and I’d had a few guitar lessons when I was younger, but I was scared to sing in public - even in front of my family.
“I wouldn’t let them hear me humming or playing the guitar or anything. I was just so nervous.
“I decided to study music when I was in fourth year, and then got involved in the school choir because that meant I was in a big group and nobody could hear me.
“Then teachers started to pick me for solos and then I got involved with drama later on at school and my confidence just shot right up.”
Whilst it took Liv time to gain the belief to perform in front of an audience, her song writing journey started at an even later stage.
She continued: “The song writing didn’t start until I left school.
“I don’t even really know how it started. One day I was just jamming out and decided to write a song and thought ‘wow this is actually quite good’ and so I just kept going with it.
“I knew straight away that I loved it and that I was good at it so I just wanted to keep going with it.
“It’s really only been two or three years so to be shortlisted for something like this is incredible.
“It was only really in the last six months at college that I decided I wanted to take on music as a career.”
“I set up my own wee tiny studio in my room but there’s so much involved in this industry that it’s mental.
“I’m not really from a musical family so it’s just been me figuring it on my own.”
Liv now has her sights set on the future, although whatever happens she’s still proud of her achievements in such a short space of time.
She added: “It’s been a good summer. I only released my first single Reason in July so I’ve done a lot.
“My mum and gran have been putting up posters with my face on them all over the Vale and round where we live.”
Liv and the other finalists will now perform at Saint Luke’s in Glasgow on September 26 to see who is crowned the winner.
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