RITA Ora came from nowhere to release three No 1 singles and a charttopping debut album and is in the running for the Brit Awards. Her first UK tour visits the south coast tonight.

At the tail end of 2011, she appeared in the video for Hot Right Now with DJ Fresh.

Before that, she’d only really been seen in a handful of online videos, but by the time of the song's official release in February last year -– it went straight to No 1 and ended up selling more than 480,000 copies – she was one of the most talkedabout singers in the country.

As an introduction, it clearly worked, and Ora’s subsequent two singles, RIP with Tinie Tempah and How We Do followed Hot Right Now to No 1.

Meanwhile, her debut album Ora topped the chart, finishing the year with sales of around 240,000.

“That’s definitely the most surreal thing that’s happened to me,” says the 22-year-old Londoner.

“The success of the singles, and the tour selling out within minutes of the tickets going on sale as well – all of last year was crazy.”

Ora is getting used to “surreal”. She was signed by Jay-Z’s management company and record label Roc Nation in New York after Mr Beyonce himself called to request a meeting.

At the time she was at college studying for her A-levels and working in a trainer shop on Portobello Road in west London in order to pay musicians to play with her at gigs in the evening.

n A near sold out audience will be seeing what all the fuss is about at Bournemouth’s 02 Academy tonight.