Music: Home to roost

Tarryn Lamb went from restaurant singer to pop star - and back to smalltown girl

The daughter of a teacher and navy man, ballad queen Tarryn Lamb was raised in Ocean View, a fishing village on the Cape Peninsula. Now 29, Lamb cut her teeth in show business as a national teen ballroom champion and studied musical performance at the Waterfront Theatre School.

But it would take a decade of hits and misses - which included rejection in the first season of SA Idols, fronting two failed bands, and working as a restaurant singer - before she finally won acclaim as the lead singer of BlackByrd, the chart-topping female pop and country trio. Known for their sweeping ballads, the band have released four number-one singles since the 2012 launch of their Sama-winning debut album, Strong.

Written by Lamb, these hit tracks include All for Me - voted by Gauteng and Western Cape radio stations as 2012's SA song of the year - and I Feel Good Today, adopted by SABC breakfast show Espresso as its theme song. The band will release another album this year.

I moved back to Kommetjie - a surfers' village two minutes from where I grew up - when I got married last month. When I was young, all I wanted was a career beyond Ocean View but as I became busier I realised show business is just smoke and mirrors. I don't need Joburg's parties to be a successful artist. My work speaks for itself.

I started girl band La Vuvuzela by placing an ad for dancers on Gumtree. This is how I stumbled across (BlackByrd band member) Tamsyn Maker about five years ago. Someone responded to the ad and said I should call her. That's when we discovered our grandfathers are brothers. Hectic, hey?

La Vuvuzela's music had no substance. It was like doef doef doef. And then we fell out with our manager. He told us to get lost, and replaced us with three new girls.

I was down and out for about a year, but eventually found a gig as a restaurant singer in Woodstock. Five songs a night, three nights a week. I wore pretty dresses each night, so it wasn't so bad. Besides, this is where I met my husband (entrepreneur Mario Thompson). He used to come to the restaurant all the time. We got married in St George's Cathedral.

My life changed after I read Crack the Songwriting Code by Clive Ridgway. It shows you how to translate your story into pop. EMI records loved the tracks I wrote so much they gave us a record deal.

Landing the EMI deal three years ago was hectic. We were just three girls. We didn't even have a band name or know how to play guitar. Then I heard Blackbird, the Beatles hit, on the radio. The lyrics, "Blackbird singing in the dead of night/take these broken wings and learn to fly" did it for me. Our name was born. We had broken wings and yet our music had created light during that dark, uncertain time of our life.

Sometimes I'm convinced my music comes from a higher power. I once woke up at 3am with a whole song in my head. It was There Was a Time, which features on our debut album.

I wrote All for Me during a horrible breakup. The chorus line "One, four, three" is code for the number of letters in the words, "I love you." This is what we used to say to each other. But I don't know how my ex reacted to the song. We never spoke again.

I used to be a big spender . but you can always save something, no matter how little you earn.

Travelling with Madame Zingara taught me to grow balls. Those performers give 3000%.

David Kramer is an exceptional storyteller. I worked with him on the Kramer Petersen Songbook, a tribute to Taliep Petersen. I battled to get a laugh after a certain line. David's advice? Wait one beat and then deliver the line. I did. The audience went wild.

Seven Steps of Stone, from the play District Six, is my mother's favourite song. I'll never forget standing on stage during Songbook's opening night and looking at her in the audience as I sang it. We kept two seats open for Taliep throughout the show's run.

I'm not famous, except perhaps in Ocean View. So my mother fights with me when I go to the shops without my weave or makeup. You must be dressed properly and can't have a babalas. You know, bring your A-game.

Despite the poverty, I'd choose Ocean View all over again. It's a fisherman's village. A simple life, and I love it. Love your family, respect your elders, everyone looks out for each other's children. That's Linda's daughter, Devon's child. Auntie Fatima makes koeksisters on a Sunday. Take your R20 and Tupperware and she'll fill it with koeksisters. Need crayfish? I'm the person to call.