There's comfort from listening to the music you grew up with

This week's columnist: Pop icon Paul Young

- KATHERINE HASSELL

I discovered music listening to Radio 1. Actually, I don't think it was called Radio 1 then, it was still the Light Programme. We didn't have any way of playing music at home except on the radio and it was on all the time.

I started piano lessons when I was eight and, by 12, was doing exams, but the guitar's draw was stronger. I began playing at 14, and would practise in my bedroom and sing along.

I just wanted to join a band, but my dad wasn't taking that very seriously, so when I left school I started an apprenticeship at a car factory so I could earn money to buy a guitar. Then I found the band Kat Kool & the Kool Cats, and I quit.

I played bass but wanted to be the singer - only we already had a singer. With cajoling, they let me do two or three songs in the set, and when I took centre stage and sang, I felt my first real joy from music. I thought, 'This is my place.