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Growing up in her British hometown of Bournemouth, Amy Studt (born March 22, 1986) started teaching herself piano, playing guitar ("very badly") and learning the oboe. There was no escape from music, as Studt's dad is a violinist and conductor who has toured with Roy Orbison and played on films, while her mom was head of music at a school. "Music was something that was always there," she says. "I can't even remember getting into it. I think if you're from a musical family, you either absolutely loathe music, or you give in and do it yourself!" Of course, she gave in, writing her first song at age 9. From there, the songs never stopped, and Studt spent most of her time working on them on her own in the music room at school and "being constantly teased about it".

At 13, she decided not to move on to the same strict school as all her friends, but to attend the area's rival school instead. "At that school you got a lot of freedom," she smiles wryly, "and with freedom, things start getting a little bit more interesting. You didn't have to wear a uniform, and there was a lot of free time. When you get to a place like that, you start bending a few of the rules." Her recent troubled history has, at least, provided plenty of lyrical inspiration. "For some reason," she shrugs, "I just seem to have had an insane amount of experiences in a short time, so that's why I think I needed a release. I write more now than ever, because I needed to get it out. And punish those people! Revenge is mine!"

By the time Studt was 14, she'd written 42 songs. Her dad, who regularly works in studios, suggested she come along one day and record some for fun. She gave or sold the finished CD to various friends, and by a strange twist of fate, one landed on the desk of Simon Fuller (Annie Lennox, Spice Girls, S Club 7). Simon got on the phone to Studt before the day was out. "I never wanted to be famous at all," she says. "I genuinely just loved writing. Just like if you love tennis, you play it all the time - same with writing songs. You want to write something better, you want to say everything in one perfect song, but it never happens - so you keep writing."

Her first single, "Just a Little Girl," found its way onto playlists in New York City, Los Angeles and throughout the United States.