Despite spending more than a decade as a backing singer or, as she describes it, as a "frontwoman for hire" with trip-hop stars Massive Attack and electronic outfit Bugz In The Attic, she always took the attitude that she was the star of the stage.

In the past 12 months the 35-year-old from Bristol, born Yolanda Quartey, has stepped out of the shadows to embrace her own spotlight as England's newest queen of country-soul.

So much so that on Wednesday Yola received four Grammy nominations for Best New Artist, Best American Roots Performance and Best American Roots Song for her track Faraway Look and her debut record Walk Through Fire was listed for Best Americana Album.

Walk Through Fire has received universal acclaim since its release in February. The album was produced and co-written by Black Keys frontman Dan Auerbach, at his Easy Eye studio in Nashville.

Auerbach assembled a crack band of session players in bassist Dave Roe (Johnny Cash), drummer Gene Chrisman and pianist Bobby Wood (Dusty Springfield, Elvis Presley) to produce the lush and nostalgic country-soul that you could imagine being sung by Mavis Staples or Aretha Franklin.

"When we were tracking I remember closing my eyes and thinking this sounds like magic," Yola says from Copenhagen between shows. "I think we're gonna be fine."

What Yola didn't feel was pressure. That's despite the wealth of talent sharing the studio.

"The one thing I've always been utterly shamelessly smug about is my ability to deliver," she says. "The thing I had to get over, and what people had made me fight for, was the right to write what I want to write. That was the real struggle for me.

"Can you sing and deliver and mean it? I slayed that dragon when I was four years old.

"If people don't realise you're it, they need to wake up and realise you're it. That's their problem, not yours. I've never in my life had any vocal doubts."

Walk Through Fire is "genre fluid" as Yola describes it. The epic opener Faraway Look is reminiscent of Dusty Springfield's finest moments, Ride Out In The Country is a breezy slice of '70s Americana and the title track is rooted in traditional honky tonk.

Recognition from the Grammys has capped off a remarkable rise for the black Englishwoman who grew up in a poor family on the outskirts on Bristol.

As a teenager Yola's mother banned her from music as she wanted her daughter's focus on university and a stable career. But Yola couldn't "commit to the mentality of the music-less life" and quit her French and German degree within weeks.

So began her steady climb towards her dream of being a singer-songwriter. Along the way Yola made several trips to Australia for Good Vibrations Festival to sing with Bugz In The Attice and The Cuban Brothers.

"Good Vibrations Festival was held in a natural amphitheatre and there were 20,000 people at a show, so I was used to staring down the barrel of a gun, as I call the microphone, into the eyes of a decent number of people," she says.

"I got used to that. At the very beginning of my career I had the experience getting ready for the big occasion and for being the focal point.

"I made a point of always having an element of fronting to any job I did, even for backing jobs, which was very purposeful because there's still a little stigma attached to backing vocals in the UK which means people stop taking you serious as an artist.

"It's something I made a point of trying to stay true to my path as much as I could. But half the challenge was getting on to my path. It feels like something that's come at the right time, but also overdue."

When Yola finally returns to Australia next Easter for Byron Bay's Bluesfest she'll be commanding the stage under her own name, which could have exploded further if she secures a Grammy Award come January 27.

In the meantime, Yola is already looking towards recording a second album with Auerbach.

"We're writing the next record," she says. "That's very exciting and the good thing about knowing each other better is we can explore so much more, as we've only just started."

Yola plays Bluesfest on April 9, 10 and 12 and will support Brandi Carlile on April 6 at Hamer Hall in Melbourne and at Sydney's Enmore Theatre on April 8.

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