The powerful and passionate

singing of NIKI KING has won her a

substantial following in her home town,

whether she is singing jazz or soul

iki King is talking about winning the Perrier Young Jazz Vocalist 2001 prize and the benefits it brings.

''It's a calling card, essentially. It makes it easier to introduce yourself. You don't have to explain to people who you are and what you've done. Which is great because, as a singer, it's really hard to approach promoters or whoever and try to tell them how good you are without,'' she pauses to consider, then just says what she means, ''without looking like a complete tosser.'' Perish the thought. The 25-year-old King has been signalling her capabilities without recourse to such gauche PR for quite some time, albeit not necessarily as a jazz singer.

As a teenager she was smitten by funk and joined the popular Captain Shifty outfit as lead vocalist. ''I loved the energy, the buzz of working in a big group and the mad clothes I got to wear,'' she says. The experience of working at major events such as Glastonbury Festival and T in the Park as well as Ronnie Scott's and the Jazz Cafe in London didn't go amiss either.

Jazz hit her suddenly. Her father being the accomplished vocal stylist Freddie King, long a familiar figure on the Edinburgh jazz scene, it had always been around as she grew up.

''I always remember going to watch my dad and loving the music and especially his performance,'' she says. ''But it wasn't for me. Or at least, I didn't think it was. I wanted to follow my own route. And I did. But then, I don't know if it's an age thing, it just clicked. Instead of just hearing it, I found myself really listening.''

Billie Holiday's Don't Explain was the turning point.

''I couldn't get it out of my head,'' she says. ''I wanted to sing that song, but once you've heard Billie or Ella or any of the great singers, it's so daunting to try and sing one of their songs. You know, they've made the definitive versions, and, in singing them, you're always aware that you're following singers who have really experienced these songs.''

Fionna Duncan's Jazz Vocal Course erased those doubts. Every summer, Duncan, with the help of the formidable Madeline Eastman, passes on her experience to wannabe jazz singers. Some of them already are jazz singers. Niki King found herself in the familiar company of one Freddie King.

''It was hysterical. It was like going to school with your dad,'' she hoots. ''But I got a real insight into him outside of being my dad and it was fascinating to see him in a musical environment like that, exposed - because Fionna and Madeline really take your singing apart and put it back together again. He's so talented and yet so humble about his talent, and to go and do something like that with his daughter on the same course, I thought that was really brave.'' Through watching her dad on the course she saw that, for a singer, there's always more to learn. And, from Fionna Duncan, she got the confidence to develop her own phrasing. ''She really made me realise that you can do a song in your own way,'' says King. ''It's like being given your freedom. Once you accept that, it opens up a whole world.''

The Perrier was the first competition she had ever entered. In fact, she concedes, she wasn't even aware of it until one of her extended family in Edinburgh got in touch and said she should try for it.

''I sent in a tape of two songs and didn't tell anyone,'' she says. ''I didn't expect to hear anything, to be honest, and, as the deadline was coming up, I thought: well that's that, then. Then they called and said I was through to the semi-final. ''That was probably more nerve-racking than the final because, although I've been performing professionally for quite a long time now, it was the first time I've been judged in that way. Having people analysing my singing so intensely was scary, but it gives you a real kick up the butt. You knew you really had to be at your best because this year was the biggest entry they've ever had and all the singers were really good. It was down to personal opinion in the end.''

As well as opening doors to promoters - she has a Scottish tour lined up towards the end of August - winning the Perrier has introduced her to a wider circle of musicians on the London jazz scene.

''I've been living down here for nearly a year now and it's quite hard to break in,'' she says. ''I've been working with Incognito, the jazz/funk band, who are all jazzers, so that's helped. And between that and the Perrier I've been able to get together with some really great players. ''The band I'm bringing to Edinburgh is going to have Arnie Somogyi on bass, Sebastiaan de Krom on drums, Julian Arguelles on saxophone, and the guitarist I worked with in Edinburgh, Marcus Ford. I'm really looking forward to it. The only thing that worries me is, these guys are so good, I'll have to watch that I don't get caught up listening to them and forget that I'm the singer.''

Niki King plays La Belle Angele

on Saturday, July 28