Electronic trio Years & Years set for Common People festival

And they have also struck gold with a UK Number One single King this year.

Now London-based trio Years & Years are set to kick off the festival season with an appearance at Southampton’s inaugural Common People festival on Sunday May 24.

Their luminous brand of electro-pop, over-layered with sweetly smooth vocals over bright and heady beats has been called “music you can dance and cry to.”

The band comprises bassist Mikey Goldsworthy, keyboard player Emre Turkmen, and vocalist Olly Alexander who have spent the last few years charming audiences worldwide in their merging of R&B, deep house, and classic-pop.

Emre took time to speak to the Daily Echo and, asked if he was looking forward to playing Common People, said: "Oh yes! We played Bestival last year and it was one of our favourite shows- we had a great time.

"I've never been to Southampton but I got a text from my best friend the other day saying they were playing our song in St Mary's Stadium before kick off so it sounds a great place to me!"

As we spoke the band had just finished recording the final track for their debut album Communion featuring the recent single ‘King’.

Emre admits he is over-whelmed by their success – and the No one hit!

"We are thrilled about it but also a little bit freaked out by it! We certainly weren't expecting it - putting it mildly!

"Our manager didn't tell us how well it was doing until the day it went to number one and we were shocked! We were up in Glasgow, just about to go on stage and Olly was a bit ill.

"Then we heard we were going to number one: we all got freaked out by it and Olly actually cried! We try not to think too much about it - you would go mad if you did.

"We just do music and then it's out of your hands into the world - a bit like having a child. We just do our best and don't put ourselves under too much undue pressure.

"We never planned any of this.

“Since winning the BBC award it's gone mad. My mum lives in Turkey and she heard about it on the BBC World channel and she called me up and woke me up to tell me.

"It was on their culture section and I thought Oh god it's a big deal; people across the globe know of us now.

"We were in LA when she called us - we were shooting our video for King: it was surreal. It only sunk in on the day of the awards. I'm one of those people unless I have it in front of me I can't believe it. It is manic."

Even though Emre has been making music since he was a child he didn’t plan this career: he actually trained as an architect!

"I spent five years at college - seven years in total to become an architect and gave it all up a couple of months later! It is entirely different!

"I try to compare them [the two jobs] but they are chalk and cheese. Mickey was working in a restaurant, Olly was acting but then it got serious and it was fun, so here we are!

"I've been making music since I was a kid but in a room with guitars and gadgets and Olly says he always wanted to be a singer , whilst Mickey’s dad use to be a music teacher and is still in a band, so maybe it was meant to be.”

Emre said his wages from his architect job paid for their first video. In fact, the video for King , a beautifully bizarre piece, racked up over 30 million views and counting, ‘King’ has also emerged as a top-ten hit in Australia and around Europe.

Fresh off a series of sold-out tours all across the globe, including selling out two nights at London’s Heaven in March and two nights already sold-out at the prestigious London Shepherd’s Bush Empire this summer, Years & Years are fast gaining recognition for a high-energy live show that adds another dimension of heart and intensity to each song.

Emre adds: "We finished recording the album on Saturday night at midnight. We just had one song to finish but had to go on tour to Europe and America first.

"People imagine you go to a chalet in France for two months and just let inspiration hit you, somewhere on a mountain side as you drink wine...”