Fame is Ell

LA ROUX'S single Bulletproof is at No1, their album is set to soar into the charts today - but Elly Jackson just can't get used to fame.

The singer and synth player admits: "Young girls getting starstruck around me is properly weird.

"Girls come up to me shaking, their voices quavering, and it's like they've seen a dead person. They can't look you in the eye and it makes me really uncomfortable.

"I don't know how to act because I'm thinking, 'Chill out, stop shaking! It's only me!'"

Elly, 21, has no choice but to be the face of La Roux because the other member - co-writer and co-producer Ben Langmaid - refuses to be interviewed or photographed.

And ginger-quiffed Elly is best-placed to talk about their self-titled debut album - as most of the songs are about her break-up with her first serious love after five years.

Hard

She muses: "If I had to choose between music and love, I'd rather be happy in love.

"Although I think music is one of the most important things in the world, I'm not going to sit here and say it's more important than my happiness.

"Actually, I am now happy in love, so I will have to draw on something else to write about in future!"

Elly says she still sees her ex, who "likes the songs a lot - which is good".

But she adds: "I must admit my ballad on the album, Cover My Eyes, was really hard to write.

"I didn't want La Roux to be a cool, avant-garde band, I wanted us to be pop - and it's important to have a ballad on a pop album.

"But it was the last song we wrote, and it was a real challenge. I was in tears by the end."

Elly, of Brixton, South London, hasn't sung it at concerts yet, in case she breaks down. She is still getting used to singing live, as La Roux's first ever gig was only in January - supporting Lily Allen on tour.

"Lily was amazing," says Elly, whose mum is former Bill star Trudie Goodwin. "She was so up for it every night on stage.

"I don't know how she manages it. I was baffled by her, to be honest.

"She's got all that pressure on her, to play to that many fans and with her life under such scrutiny every day. But she's got amazing energy, bouncing around every night."

Like Lily, Elly is usually a party girl, but she's had to tame her wilder ways to promote La Roux - which is French for redhead. She sighs: "I'm down to one cigarette a day. I feel really, really boring.

"Even when a tour finishes, I haven't had a party to celebrate, as I'll have a photoshoot the next day.

"I'd love to go on a bender for four days, but I'm too busy.

Party

"I try to drink a litre of water a day on tour, loads of herbal tea . . . before you know it, you've turned into some hippy like Enya!"

But the sacrifices are paying off, and La Roux are now starting to get recognised in the States.

In fact Elly was recently at a celeb party in New York, where she was introduced to Jennifer Lopez.

"I'm not a big fan, and it wasn't something I've ever aspired to do," says Elly. "But it's still weird for a girl from Brixton to be in the same room as her.

"It was at a Topshop party. Debbie Harry was there too. I was much more excited to meet her. I'm a massive Blondie fan - who isn't!

"I hadn't even spotted Debbie. My publicist said 'Meet my friend Debbie.' She turned round and I was thinking 'You are joking!'

"I was almost like a shaking fan myself!"

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