LA ROUX singer Elly Jackson has had the year every pop star wannabe dreams of. Coming out of nowhere, the electro synth queen has gone from anonymity to playing the world’s biggest festivals overnight after her 80s tinged tunes and style struck a chord with music and fashion lovers alike.

Now after her singles Bulletproof and In For The Kill went to number one and number two, not to mention her nomination for the Mercury Music Prize, she’s on top of the world and looking forward to a two-week UK tour that comes to both Manchester and Leeds this month.

Jackson said she had just played the biggest gig of her career in Australia and had a new found love of playing larger venues.

She said: “I definitely prefer playing bigger gigs, it’s much easier than playing smaller gigs.

“Smaller gigs are a lot more intense and you feel a lot more watched, strangely enough, even if there are less people you feel a lot more.

“It’s easier to get into character and to perform and you’ve got more stage to use, and it’s just all working in your favour really.

“Someone was saying, ‘Don’t you find it more scary performing to more people?’ and I said, ‘Well no, because the more people you perform to it’s more affirming’.

“Because there are more people there it’s more reassuring because you know that more people turned up.”

The 11 date autumn tour, finishing at the Shepherds Bush Empire in London begins at Leeds Stylus this week and Jackson said she was looking forward to her new bigger set more than anything.

She said: “It’s sort of exciting, it’s more stuff for me to work with on stage and it just helps the performance and helps it be a show as well.

“We’re constantly making it as much of a show as we can, from the outfits changing and all that kind of thing.

“That’s what I always get excited about.”

As famous for her severe quiff and her fashion sense as her music, Jackson’s plans for her winter wardrobe are as likely to grab the headlines as her chart endeavours.

And after a long international tour she said she was looking forward to hitting London’s shops.

She said: “I’m liking tapestry, kind of a Tudor regal kind of thing for me this winter, like hats and suede and big jackets.

“And big billowing white Tudor shirts with ties round the neck and stuff like that. “Not ties like a man’s tie, as in like white strings though.”

La Roux plays Leeds Stylus on November 13 and Manchester Warehouse Project on November 21.