THE usual route for Scottish acts seeking stardom is to hit the road to London. Amandah Wilkinson, aka Bossy Love, did it the other way round, taking the bus to Glasgow to become one of the most talked about breaking artists in the country.

If it wasn't the conventional route, it's been a successful one. Since recruiting Glasgow producer John Baillie Jr, the R&B duo has featured on BBC Introducing, and signed to the same management company as Johnny Marr and PJ Harvey – and all before even putting out a full album.

Her road to this point has been long and winding. Hailing originally from Australia’s Gold Coast, Wilkinson was thrust into the limelight as a teenager when her indie band Operator Please’ debut release received national airplay.

The teen sensations’ buzz only lasted a few years. After some high-profile support slots they broke up in 2011 and Wilkinson moved to London without much of a plan. But she maintains it was the best decision she ever made.

Speaking ahead of Bossy Love’s slot at Belladrum Festival yesterday, she said: “In a way, I started all over again. I thought it was time to grow up, but at the same time I knew music was the main driver for me. I followed my sister to London and ended up getting a job on the railways for two years. But I never stopped doing creative stuff.”

Having started demoing songs for Bossy Love, Wilkinson reached out to former Dananananaykroyd drummer Baillie Jr, who she had met on a previous tour. In her words, “he pulled everything out of my brain and understood”, and Wilkinson found herself travelling by bus to Glasgow every weekend just to make music.

She said: “I remember I’d work all week, come up to Glasgow and solidly work for three days, and then I’d go back down. Then we managed to get a residency every couple of weeks at Bongo Club in Edinburgh, where John would DJ and I’d MC over the top of them. It got to the point where John just asked: ‘Why don’t you move to Scotland?’”

Ironically, her parents had earlier forged a path, having lived in Glasgow for 35 years. She now lives in the city's east end, in Dennistoun just a couple of streets away from where they had lived.

Bossy Love’s unique synth-led sound has resonated strongly with Scottish audiences and they have become a staple at festivals both north and south of the border.

Wilkinson said: “I love the scene up here because everyone knows what’s going on with everyone. Scotland has an arts scene that is just blowing everyone else’s out the water. Maybe it’s the underdog thing, but I love the attitude Scots have to making music and art.

“Australia is similar in that you feel like a big fish in a little pond because the industry is much smaller, but obviously the country itself is much bigger. In Scotland, it’s just more tightly knit and there’s a lot of working together to achieve things. I can’t tell you a single band that sounds the same – I think that’s an amazing thing.”