With the pop attitude of Cyndi Lauper and the gritty, vocal depth of Chrissie Hynde, Gabriella Cilmi (pronounced 'Chill-Me') possesses the kind of husky, soulful vocals that suggest she was weaned on Jack Daniels and Benson & Hedges from birth.

It's a voice that oozes experience. So it's surprising — shocking even — to discover she is only sweet 16.

Yet she is by no means new to singing.

"It's funny," she recalls, "I used to get in trouble for singing loudly around the house all the time. Janis Joplin was my absolute idol."

Last seen in Oxford supporting The Sugababes, the Australian singer-songwriter is finally getting what she deserves — her own headline tour, which on Thursday pitches up at the Carling Academy... the day before her 17th birthday.

"Through touring, I've definitely seen more of the UK than I have of Australia now," she says.

"It's cool to be able to go to places like Oxford which is so historical and such a pretty city."

Her ubiquitous single Sweet About Me was as much a feature of the summer as financial meltdown, and spent nearly three months in the UK charts.

It was praised by the likes of Oasis and made her the youngest Aussie ever to top the Australian charts.

The song — the opening salvo from her acclaimed debut album, Lessons To Be Learned — took a while to capture record buyers' imagination, entering the charts at an inglorious number 68.

But Gabriella, who wrote the track after a trip to Paris spent foraging through second-hand record shops, remained convinced the song would be a hit.

"I had a high expectation for it. And I think I was right," she laughs.

Sure enough — buoyed, bizarrely, by an appearance in a deodorant advert — it began to steadily climb the Top 40, and peaked at seven.

"It got released twice because people, all of a sudden, started playing it," she smiles.

Born in Melbourne to a an Aussie-Italian family, Gabriella cut her musical teeth at the age of 12 in a garage-rock band playing covers of Kings of Leon and Jet.

She says: "It was cool when Liam Gallagher said Sweet About Me was his favourite song of 2008, because I used to jam with my mates and play Wonderwall."

Aged 13, she was discovered singing Jumpin' Jack Flash at a gathering organised by one of her uncles. The crowd had been waiting for an Abba tribute band, but when they failed to turn up, her uncle coaxed her on to the stage.

"The audience were a bit confused," she giggles. "They didn't really know what to do. Most of the crowd were relatives so you'd think that they'd make the effort, but they didn't really 'get' it. An opera singer came on afterwards and got a standing ovation."

One person who did 'get' it was Michael Parisi, of indie label Mushroom Records who signed her on the spot. She was then snapped up by Island in the UK and paired with producer Brian Higgins of Girls Aloud fame.

They recorded during school holidays over three years and ended with more than 60 songs that were then whittled down to the current album.