AN ARTIST with an incredibly distinctive voice will take to the stage for a pre-Christmas gig in Bristol.

As her debut album, Lights, made so thrillingly clear, Ellie Goulding uses her voice as a texture in much the same way that a skilled instrumentalist would use their instrument.

It is a sound – in Ellie’s case, an utterly distinctive and unforgettable one – that can play as important a role in her songs as any other musical detail.

She has had a Brit award, the release of Lights, love, loss, writer’s block, a new relationship, a concert at the White House and at a certain spring wedding, a number one pop record in the United States, before returning to the countryside she grew up in and, in a converted barn, making a record that confirms her as one of this country’s most singular and compelling songwriters.

Two fans are a young couple who, 17 months ago, were married in London and, for one of the few private moments the world allowed them on the day, approached Ellie and asked her to sing at the party they were holding following the wedding reception.

It is not every day a musician will stand on a stage as a pair of giant doors open, and watch pretty much the entire Royal Family advance into the room, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge at their head, ready to be entertained.

Ellie will take to the stage at the O2 Academy Bristol on December 7.

Tickets, priced �22.50, are available via www.o2academybristol.co.uk