Talented but only 12 years old: How young is too young, to be a teen idol?

• Tallia Storm:"While my parents can open doors, you have to have talent to keep those doors open". Picture: Robert Perry

WHEN Tallia Storm bounces energetically into one of the big, squashy sofas in Glasgow's One Devonshire Gardens she looks like any other 12-year-old. Still dressed in her school uniform, she orders hot chocolate while she tells me she has to study for a test tomorrow and practice flute after our meeting.

Only she's not quite like any other 12-year-old.

In possession of rather a large voice for such a small person, she's got high hopes of becoming the next teen pop sensation. Over 200,000 people have logged on to her Myspace page to listen to her music, which she describes as "pop with an R&B groove", and she has her own website and management team.

The bio on her site describes her as an "utterly unique talent" before going on to say: "Combined by a cheeky signature, reminiscent of that from the Motown era, the Tallia Storm vocal will pull you in all the right directions. For her tracks range from the Americanised pop templates that send your toes tapping and the super catchy imperative chorus, to dancefloor killers that could easily hail from the pop princess Kylie herself. Tallia Storm can deliver a variety of inspiring tunes that will undoubtedly send the UK 's pre-teen and teens into overdrive. And dare we say it, entice an audience overspill who will simply love a good tune when they hear one!"

The daughter of public relations powerhouse Tessa Hartmann, the founder of the Scottish Fashion Awards, and film director Sascha Hartmann who runs Glasgow Animation, Tallia, whose full name is Natalya Storm Hartmann, lives in Killearn, Stirlingshire and attends the High School of Glasgow. She was "discovered" when she recorded a demo for the upcoming animated film Sir Billi, which stars Sir Sean Connery and Alan Cumming and is directed by her father.

"All my life I've been singing around my house, just like any little girl does," she says excitedly. "My dad asked me to record a demo for a song for his film. It was just a demo, really rushed because he had to send it off quickly and then the record company in America would choose a person to sing it. But when he sent it off they were like 'who's this that's singing it? She's quite good, do you not want to use her?'"

Universal, the record company charged with finding an artist to record the song for the film, felt it need look no further than the young session musician who had performed "as a favour" to her father.Suddenly Tallia and her parents were faced with the prospect of deciding whether she should pursue a career in the music industry before she's even hit her teens.

It's an approach which has proved successful for some, disastrous for others. Donny Osmond's childhood superstardom has led to a life-long career in showbusiness while 21-year-old Taylor Swift, who began at 12, is now one of the most successful and, apparently, grounded stars in the US, with one of the biggest-selling albums in the world last year.

In contrast, artists - including Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan and Judy Garland - have all dealt with problems in adulthood linked to their early stardom.

Both Tallia and her mother insist they are taking her career slowly. She won't be pulled out of school, and offers from an LA PR company to press ahead with a release in the US have been turned down for the time being because Hartmann doesn't want to "fill her head with nonsense".

Ultra-polite, talkative and chirpy, Tallia looks refreshingly her young age. Her freckled face is make-up free, her hair pulled into a loose ponytail and she wears Ugg boots and her school blazer. She cites US teen stars like Demi Lovato and Miley Cyrus as her idols as well as more grown-up artists like Jennifer Hudson and Mariah Carey, and is a little embarrassed when I ask what her classmates make of it all.

"They're just beginning to find out," she says with a giggle. "I didn't tell them at first because I didn't know how it would turn out. I guess they're reacting as I thought they would. Some are like 'wow, well done, that's so good!' and others are teasing me by putting the website up on screen or playing my songs in class. But it's all good fun."

Tallia hails from a musical background. Her father, who composes songs for his films, and has written tracks for his daughter, taught her to read music and she plays flute and guitar. However she had never had a vocal coach or performed in public and, despite the response to her demo from the industry bigwigs in the US, her parents were wary about opening her up to a notoriously tough industry before she's even hit her teens.

"We were almost embarrassed at first when the record label asked us who was singing," explains Hartmann, whose PR agency Hartmann Media is representing Tallia. "We didn't want tell them it was our daughter. I was very wary at first. It took me a good few weeks to mull it over and go through all the pros and cons with family and friends."

Aware that she would open herself up to accusations of pushy parenting for representing her school-age daughter, Hartmann consulted other mothers before making her decision, and it was a comment from one of her closest friends that finally persuaded her to go for it.

"She said 'you're not going to be overcome by this because it's your background, and it would be a sin for you not to try and make this work'," says Hartmann."She told me if she were a golfer and her son showed promise in the sport she'd do everything she could to help him, and that this is really no different.

"She said I'd be doing Tallia a disservice by not doing my best for her because this is my industry.

"I know parents who push their kids far harder than I'm pushing Tallia in this role. They're having four violin lessons a week or swimming at 5am before school.

"I'm aware there's going to be a judgemental process that will go on, but from my perspective I haven't pushed her in this. It's happened, it's evolved, and this is what we do so we're giving her the tools and it's far less a pressure on her than it is for some of the kids who have no social life whatsoever because they're involved in so many extracurricular activities."

While Tallia has not yet signed a record deal, she has a had a taste of what life as a teen pop star might be like. She's done photoshoots, recorded tracks in the studio and given performances in shopping centres. The first tracks from her first album, which is likely to be released next summer, were recorded in Glasgow and at the Metropolis Studios in London.

She's had the full hair, make-up and styling treatments and has even started practising writing songs of her own. At just 12, she has been lucky enough to have access to the kind of facilities, contacts and opportunities that many adult musicians can only dream of, and both mother and daughter are aware that Tallia will have to deal with accusations of nepotism, like everyone from Sean Lennon and Stella McCartney to Damian Marley and Jade Jagger before her. It's not an easy question to put to someone so young, whether she feels nepotism might be a hindrance in the future. She thinks carefully before she answers. "It's good to be able to do this with my parents' guidance. What they don't want is for me to be getting this just through them. Some people might be like 'she's only doing that because of her mum and dad', but while they can open the doors, I think you have to have talent to keep those doors open."

It's clear from listening to Tallia's tunes on Myspace that she's got a voice that belies her tender years, and her brand of bubblegum pop is as catchy as anything by teen pop supremos Bieber and Cyrus. However, from Garland to Jackson, talent hasn't always prevented early stardom from causing problems in later life, and the parents of any youngster working in the music business open themselves up to criticism. Tallia is unfamiliar with the term "child star" and its associations, but it's something her mother is acutely aware of.Does she worry about being perceived as a pushy stage mother? "You do wonder 'is this the right thing to do?' and I'd be lying if I said I didn't worry what other people think," says Hartmann, who has made a conscious decision not to manage her daughter personally, but rather to entrust Tallia's career to her staff.

"The first time I saw her perform I thought I was going to throw up. I looked at her and I thought 'what have I done? How can I expect this young girl with no experience to stand up there and do this in front of all these strangers?' And yes she was a bit nervous before she went on but once she started singing it was very emotional because at that point

"I knew that the ability to do that is a gift, one you've either got or you haven't. If a child has a talent then you've got to do what you can. It just so happens that this is the industry I'm in.

"But she has to have fun with it. The moment she stops enjoying it is the moment we call it a day."