IT’S not every day that a major pop star comes to play a concert in your living room.

But yesterday a group of youngsters in Wolvercote were amazed to find Australian songstress Gabriella Cilmi knock on their front door for an intimate gig.

listen to ‘Oxford Mail talk about Gabriella Cilmi’ on Audioboom

  • Listen to Gabriella singing at the Williams home

She played three of her songs to eight very excited children after they won a prize offered in the Oxford Mail.

Mere Road resident Linda Williams, who entered the competition and in whose house the songstress performed, said: “The children were absolutely delighted when they found out they had won and it was a good story to tell at school as well.

“It was yesterday that we found out we had won, so it’s a good job we’re flexible.

“This was a bit of a surreal afternoon, like when you say ‘yes’ to something and it takes a while for the penny to drop.

“I was wondering whether I needed to tidy the house or not.”

Best known for her hit Sweet About Me, Ms Cilmi is back with a new album which is being released on November 11.

The 22-year-old Australian-Italian artist is following up her two million-selling 2008 global debut – which spent 37 consecutive weeks in the UK singles chart – with her new album The Sting.

He three-song set, which included one of her new songs Symmetry, was well-received by the audience of children, who attend Wolvercote Primary School and St Aloysius.

Mrs Williams’s nine-year-old daughter Hannah said: “I really enjoyed it but it is very unusual having her perform in our living room.”

Her friend, Ruby Atkinson, aged 10, said: “I was really excited. When my mum told me, I literally screamed. We put lots of her songs on and were practising.”

Ms Cilmi came to Oxford from a gig in Brighton before leaving for London after performing in Mere Road.

The singer, who performed with a band, said: “Normally you cannot really see the faces in the crowd and the audience turns into a big, misty blob so it’s nice to see faces and it is nice to see that the children got to take a bit of time off school.

“It was really nice to be playing to a different type of audience. We played On A Mission, which we hadn’t played for a few years, but they were very forgiving.

“We went for a little walk around Christ Church Meadow but unfortunately I was wearing high heels which weren’t very appropriate.

“Oxford is such a beautiful city and hopefully I can come back with better shoes.”

  • Gabriella Cilmi was discovered at the age of 13 singing Led Zeppelin and Rolling Stones covers with a Melbourne band.
  • She signed for Island Records and, aged 15, moved to London to work with Brian Higgins from Xenomania.
  • In 2008, she gained worldwide fame with her song Sweet About Me, which was top 10 in 16 countries, spent 37 weeks in the UK charts and has been seen almost 24 million times on YouTube.
  • Now 21, she has a new album, The Sting, out on November 11.