Jodie loves the taste of success

Jodie Connor: Scouthead to stardom

SASHAYING around with urban swagger, Jodie Connor looks every bit a star in the making in her new music video.

The former Saddleworth School pupil is set to take the music world by storm.

Her latest assault on the charts, Bring It, featuring rap star Tinchy Stryder, hit the shops this week.

Fresh from the BBC Breakfast sofa yesterday, Jodie found time to speak to the Chronicle during a whirlwind of interviews and promotion.

She said: “I’d always hoped and aspired to be doing this, now it’s come true it feels like it was meant to be.

“It’s every girl’s dream to be made up and have gorgeous clothes but it’s also a lot of hard work.

“When shooting videos I’m on set from 5am until midnight and in the latest one it was freezing cold outside, so it’s not all glamour.”

No stranger to success her singing voice provided the catchy chorus to Roll Deep’s Good Times, which reached the top of the charts last year.

Her debut solo single Now or Never also gave cause for celebration as it peaked at No 14 in January — and saw her reach the A-list on the BBC Radio 1 playlist.

She counts working with Jay Z’s label Rock Nation as a career highlight so far, as well as co-writing her debut album due to be released late summer.

Jodie, who has just moved from Scouthead to London, said: “I still wake up and pinch myself, I used to watch these people on television, now I’m working alongside them — I wouldn’t swap it for the world.

“I’m starting to get recognised in the street which means I can’t go out with no make-up in tracksuit bottoms. I’ve being doing this for over 10 years so I do feel slightly relieved it is working out, it’s still such a tough industry to break into and maintain success.

“Sometimes it feels like another world, but if I get a day off I do miss my mum and my sister in Oldham.”

The Saddleworth superstar is now signed to Polydor and has high hopes for her new single.

Jodie has come a long way since she first signed her record deal and her days at Oldham College, with her video now receiving over 600,000 hits on YouTube.

She said: “I had just signed on the dotted line and it was like ‘OK, I have a deal’, there were no big parties like everyone expects.

“That’s when the hard work started and I’m going to keep working hard to make sure I become an established artist.”

Bring It featuring Tinchy Stryder is available to download on itunes now.