US star Stone rolls home

Joss Stone: BBC's Junior Star for a Night. Picture: Karen Fuchs

A 16-year-old girl, hailed by some as "the white Aretha Franklin" in the US, returned to her Devon home this week to launch her career in the UK.

Joss Stone, or Joscelyn Stoker, from Ashill in east Devon, has transformed herself from talent contest winner in the UK to a genuine star in the US.

Her album of covers, The Soul Sessions, released last month, came out to critical acclaim.

And she has recently returned from a US tour at venues in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Diego, as well as in Canada.

Joscelyn, born in Dover, Kent, started singing as a toddler and was brought up on soul music played at home by mother Wendy, now her co-manager.

Junior Star

It was at the local Uffculme Comprehensive School that she began performing.

At the age of 13, she won the BBC's Junior Star for a Night talent contest, singing Donna Summer's On the Radio.

That success brought her to the attention of the record industry.

Joss, speaking from her family's 200-year-old home, a former granary, said: "I would love to be big at home.

"But most English artists do not make it big in America, so I definitely prefer it this way round."

Her UK debut performance is being arranged for the Brixton Academy next month.

But she is philosophical about what the future may hold for her.

She said: "If am destined to be as big as Britney I will be. If not, I will not."