It's a rain-lashed December evening and singer Nikki Lamborn is relaxing with a big glass of wine in her local pubo.

She is talking excitedly about her latest project: appearing as a vocal coach for celebrities on a new BBC show - a singing equivalent of Strictly Come Dancing, called Just the Two of Us, which will be screened next year.

Or at least she is trying to, for everytime she tries to talk she is interrupted by an admirer, fascinated by her eight tattoos and rock star attire. She is clearly out of place in the South West London pub.

Nikki, singer with band Never The Bride, has grown used to being the centre of attention.

A larger than life performer with a wild mane of blonde hair and an enormous smile, Nikki describes herself as a cross between rock legends Janis Joplin and Robert Plant: "People do compare me to Janis and even Tina Turner," she says, "but I've got a more tuneful voice. I do have the energy and passion of their performances, though."

It's no surprise that she was headhunted by the BBC. Despite supporting The Who, ZZ Top, Alice Cooper, Peter Frampton and The Pretenders, Nikki's greatest exposure to date was not as a rock singer, but as a voice coach on the Channel 4 show Faking It, during which she attempted to turn a Cambridge choirgirl into a rock chick.

"I love helping people by getting them to do things they've never done before," she says.

"I've worked hard on my voice and perfected it. My heart is in rock and roll, though, which is why I've been singing for 25 years."

Nikki describes her band as "rock's best kept secret", and you can see why. Refusing to bow to commercial pressure, they have remained fiercely independent, producing their own work, and representing themselves.

Yet, they have a cult following. They are also one of the hardest working bands in rock, recently completing an epic 42 gigs in 12 countries in 50 days, and covering 10,000 miles, from Spain to Arctic Norway.

Nikki grins: "Our reputation is all spread by word of mouth. There's nothing like it. This country is starved of female rock stars and people crave passionate 'real deal' performers. As a band we each come off stage a kilo lighter - and so do the crowd - because we make them rock!"

On Monday, the Never The Bride tour bus rolls into Oxford, when the band host the Monday Blues Christmas Party at the Bullingdon.

The show will not only showcase Nikki's foundation-shaking voice, but the song writing skills of keyboardist Catherine Feeney, aka Been. A highlight of the set will be their anthem Living Tree - which last year they 'gave' to that other formidable female vocal talent, Dame Shirley Bassey, saying it had a real 'Bond' quality.

And the result?

"Stunning!" says Nikki.

The Dame has since made the song part of her live repertoire, and performed it at a Royal Variety Performance at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium.

Monday's Bullingdon show sees Never The Bride play alongside an international bill of artists from New Zealand, Italy, the USA and the UK.

Tickets are £10 on the door.