ONE CHRISTMAS an 11-year-old Wicklow girl sat looking up into the night sky searching for the star of Bethlehem. Unable to find it, she decided to write a song about her quest. Her song 'I look up to the Sky' would go on to raise thousands of pounds for Charity and be performed by the young singer/songwriter on RTE's Late Late Toy Show ' 94 in front of the nation. ' I was thrilled to be on the Toy Show with Gay Byrne but terrified during my performance because they put me on a really high stool and I kept thinking I'm going to fall off any minute.' Luan says laughing.

Since those memorable moments 15 years ago the lovely Luan Parle has become a wellknown singing star here in Ireland with many hit singles under her belt and her third album coming out next month.

The unique, husky voiced, rock/pop/folk and sometimes country-style singer who describes her songs as ' Rootsy Organic', received the prestigious Meter Award for 'Best Irish Female Artist' by public vote in 2007 and the same year won the Tatler, 'Music Woman of the Year' Award. Tipped for international stardom, this pretty blonde singer now works here and in the States with some of the best producers in the world and has toured with her band in the UK supporting James Blunt and Elton John.

Born in 1983, Luan Parle grew up in Wicklow Town, the only daughter of Miriam and Jo Parle. The story of her distinctive name, is that she had a French ancestor named 'Parle' who is said to have been shipwrecked off the Wexford coast and helped and nursed back to health by a beautiful Irish woman. He fell in love, married his Irish nurse and never returned to France.

'It's a very romantic story and apparently true,' She says with a smile. ' The name Luan is also French. Sadly, my mum lost her mother Margaret Cullen six months before I was born. They used to call her 'Lu' and my mum wanted to call me after her so when she came across the French name Luan it seemed to fit the bill.'

Her father Jo, a local plumbing and heating contractor, instilled a love of music and playing instruments in Luan and his two sons Joseph and John and their cousin Vincent who lived with them. Luan tells us about him and his influence on her

'My dad is a fantastic singer and songwriter but it has always been a hobby for him. We grew up listening to him singing and play different instruments.

'He gave guitar lessons and trained the local kids in the choir and I couldn't wait to start singing and would beg him to give me a song to sing. When I was about six years old, he let me sing at Sunday Mass in St. Patrick's Church and later he taught me to play the guitar. Like him, I could pick up any instrument and play by ear. My dad is the one who introduced me to a lot of different styles of music and genres so his influence on me as a performer is massive.'

Growing up in a household of boys, Luan describes her childhood as very happy, active and full of fun and admits to being a bit of a tomboy.

'Looking back at old photos brings back wonderful memories of fancy dress parties that mum would arrange and picnics on the beach. We spent the summers down on the small stony beach beside the harbour swimming out to a raft we called ' Wendy' and jumping, climbing and tearing around on skateboards. I was as bad as the boys and must have broken every bone in my body at some stage or other,' she jokes.

Luan became known locally as ' the little girl who sings' and took part and won a large number of talent contests and cabaret shows around the county.

She tells us that in the ' 80s there were a lots of talent competitions taking place in local communities in the county and although her father happily drove her around and her family supported her at these events, she was the one who instigated entering these shows in the first place.

'I was very driven as a child to perform. It was always my idea to enter competitions and talent contests. I would point out posters and entry forms in newspapers to my parents. I just loved performing. It was never about winning, only about performing. I wasn't a cocky kid or at all competitive. I would see people practising and tuning up their vocal cords before contests and I'd be there, happily eating peanuts and drinking cola.'

Luan won her first trophy and a small cash prize in Newtownmountkennedy but soon the prizes and the prize money improved and in Arklow, aged 10, she won a week's family holiday to Butlins Holiday Camp in Mosney where her mother had worked as a nurse before she was married.

'Mum always said she wanted to bring us back there so the whole family was delighted with the win and while we were there I entered another talent contest and won 300 pounds. I was thrilled as that was an amazing amount of money to me at that time.'

At the age of 12 she proved she had a ' talent for her talent' by showing great initiative in writing to the late Gerry Ryan and asking to go on his 'School around the Corner' Show. While on the show she was seen by Pat Kenny and invited onto his show, 'Kenny Live' and from there she was spotted by a scout for a record label in Ireland and wound up recording an album of cover songs called ' First Impression.'

' The songs were all suitable for my age and looking back on it now, it was amazing to have a record deal and an album out at such a young age. I'm really proud of it. The album went over to represent Ireland in the Cannes Film Festival that year in 1995 and was heard by a U. S. scout representing an American record label.' What transpired would be, for most singers, a once in a lifetime opportunity - to become a big recording artist in the United States - but it was not the right time for Luan Parle.