Singer songwriter Billie Marten is on the verge of hitting the big time and will be treating Camp Bestival festival-goers to her heartfelt tunes next month. Here, she tells Joanna Davis how she's keeping her feet on the ground as her recording career takes off.

HUMBLE, self-deprecating and more down to earth than many of her lesser-achieving peers, you would never know that Billie Marten has been touted as the next big thing.

The 17-year-old from North Yorkshire caught the attention of record industry bigwigs after clips of her singing were posted to YouTube.

At the age of eight she was given a small, pink guitar, was taught four chords by her dad and wrote her first ‘proper’ song.

Billie, who has just taken her AS-levels, has just released Milk and Honey, a sophisticated track about people's greed and consumerist frame of mind with a vocal delicacy outstripping her youth - and has been tipped as 'one to watch' by the Sunday Times Culture magazine.

That track is backed by La Lune, a nostalgic nod to a time last summer where Billie 'really badly sunburnt my face, but also about instinctive feelings of being home, without the ‘heat’ of everything.' Her debut album comes out this autumn.

This summer sees the Northern songbird making her way down south to perform at Camp Bestival at Lulworth Castle, Dorset.

"I don't do a lot of gigs, I'm usually just gigging around Yorkshire. I've never been to Dorset before!

"This year has been about getting my music out there. I've just finished my AS-levels a couple of weeks ago and fingers crossed I've done okay."

Having been playlisted on Radio 1, 6 Music and Radio X, Billie also appeared on the BBC Sound of 2016 long list earlier this year.

With Billie telling me she is at her happiest cycling around Yorkshire having recently moved to a rural idyll with her family, I ask how she would cope with sudden celebrity.

She said: "I don't think anybody can really put themselves in that head space.

"I think fame is such a ridiculous thing to happen to a human, I think I would always have to be at home, I could never move to London.

"I think it's important not to forget yourself and where we come from."

Her parents, who posted what she describes as 'my cr*ppy videos' onto YouTube, have been key in keeping her down to earth, she said.

She recalls her version of OutKast’s Hey Ya and a song she composed using words from an old poetry book. None of those videos now exist online, much to Billie’s relief. Typically, she insists they were terrible.

“Those videos were made for my grandparents, who live in France,” she explains. “No one else was supposed to see them. Mostly I made them to make my mum happy.

"When I was 12 I took part in the YouTube Ont' Sofa Unsigned and did a cover of the Lucy Rose song Middle of the Bed.

"I think the influences around me have helped me when it comes to entering this world of music.

"The upbringing I've had hasn't been too flashy. I'm really very grateful for my family.

"It's very hard to get your head around. I think I'm quite honest in my music and I don't write things for other people, I write them for myself.

"With my songwriting I tend to just mess about with my guitar.

"I'm quite reflective and I spend all my time outside, I love to cycle around."

Comparisons can be drawn with the singer Birdy, who first hit the charts at the tender age of 12.

The New Forest-born singer's music has gone everywhere - from a Lloyds Bank commercial to the soundtracks of The Hunger Games, The Fault in our Stars, and Disney’s Brave – a track she wrote with Mumford & Sons. She is still just 19.

Similarly Billie caught the ear of record execs at a young age and sound-tracked BAFTA’s Breakthrough Brits.

She said; "I remember listening to Birdy's Skinny Love and thought it was incredibly good. I really admire what she's done."

Among Billie's influences are John Martyn, Laura Marling, David Bowie, Portishead and Loudon Wainwright. She is also a big fan of singer/songwriter Scott Matthews.

Billie said: "He's from Yorkshire and he's the most wonderful musician.

"He's really gifted and he's just been going out there and playing his music and playing all these gigs."

Another high point for Billie was performing at this year’s SXSW in Texas.

She said: "I was among four or five artists who were chosen by BBC Introducing to go out to America. I was one of those lucky people.

"But at the gig everything that could have gone wrong went wrong with my sound levels!"

Come October Billie will be embarking on her first UK tour.

"I'm going to some small venues," she says.

"And I'm going to be taking it in steps. I'll be playing some new material, it will probably just be in front of my family and friends!"

Outside of music, Billie has simple tastes.

"I try and make as much time as possible to read, I spend a lot of time on the train going back and forth between London and North Yorkshire and I love to read and I love art and going for walks.

"I also try and catch up on a bit of sleep when I'm on the train."

For a young artist with such potential, Billie's ambitions are humble.

"I've always said to myself I would like to be quietly happy making music.

"But something that would be massive for me would be to get on Desert Island Discs, I'm such a fan of it."

*Billie Marten will be performing at Camp Bestival, which takes place at Lulworth Castle from July 28 to 31. See campbestival.net for more information.