At seventeen…

It’s a great start to the interview. As I enter Carly Hennessy’s five-star hotel room I find the young lady on her hands and knees scrubbing at a large red patch on the cream-coloured carpet. “Do you know how to get nail polish out of carpet?” She inquires. “I was doing my toenails just now and I dropped the bottle…” I help her up and strategically place an antique stool over the stain. Gone. “You won’t tell anybody about this will you?” I decide that I won’t point out the ten tiny crescents of nail polish that are still visible since in her haste to clean up the mess she forgot her nails were still wet.

Carly Hennessy is a seventeen-year old from Dublin who’s spent the last two years in the US writing and recording her debut album for MCA records. It’s a mark of MCA’s faith in the young woman that ex-New Radical Greg Alexander has been involved in the writing and production. Her debut single ‘I’m Gonna Blow Your Mind’ has just been released in the US, and presents a heady blend of pop and rock, more Sheryl Crow than Britney Spears. Yet already Carly’s name is popping up on Britney sites – “Hey guys, I’ve just discovered an awesome new singer from Ireland” – Make no mistake, this gal’s gonna be big.

Recovered from the nail polish debacle Carly awaits my first question with rapt concentration. What did she do last night?

“Oh, myself and a couple of friends from the band came back here and we had a bit of a laugh and then we went out.”

Let’s try again. Before all that, what did you do?

“Oh, that! I was singing in the RDS for President McAleese! It was at the Gaisce Awards and I’d met the President before and she seems to think I’m an example of Irish enterprise so…”

Enterprising she certainly is. Her parents inspired an early interest in music and she taught herself to sing by singing along with Chrissie Hynde, Diana Ross and Madonna. At the age of nine she was onstage singing in Les Miserables, by age ten she’d recorded Carly’s Christmas Album for Warner Music (“Aaaah! That was awful,” she moans). By the time she was twelve she was the model for Denny sausages ad campaign, (“Those trucks with my face on them are still around in Tallaght,” she assures me) and at fifteen, accompanied by her father Luke, she was in LA, on her work experience break from school, incredibly.

Her break was for two weeks; MCA President Jay Boberg had signed her within five days. Now, two years later, she’s arrived. Does she feel she’s ready for the big time?

“Yeah, I do. I can’t wait actually. I’ve been living with this music for over a year and only a handful of other people have heard it so I’m dying to get out and play it. I really believe it’s great music and I think people will love it. I hope so!”

It must have been a bit of a wrench to live apart from your family at fifteen while coping with a gruelling work regime.

“It was, because I knew nobody in LA, except for the people I was working with and eventually you need a break from each other. I wasn’t in school or in a club so I didn’t meet any other teenagers. I’ve got two friends now though, and it’s fun because I put one of them, Jenny Dare, in the video for the new single as a sort of ‘thanks for being around’! But it took me ages to get used to the food. And I’ve got a car over there because you need one just to get around and here I’m not allowed drive… It’s very different.”

I notice a faint trace of an accent. Is she becoming a Yank?

“No way! When I arrived back a couple of days ago my friends gave me a really hard time about my accent, which I didn’t even realise I had! But it’s nearly gone now.”

At seventeen it may sound like a strange question, but where does she seeherself in ten years’ time?

“I’d love to have the career that Madonna’s got, she’s an absolute idol of mine. I like the way she moves into different areas and genres and she always produces quality music and she’s always slightly ahead of the trend. In ten years, if I’m doing that I’ll be very happy!”

‘I’m Gonna Blow Your Mind’ is out now on MCA