Named alongside the likes of Florence + the Machine, Ghostpoet and Jamie XX on the Mercury Prize shortlist, Lewisham singer-songwriter Eska has made it into the big time.

Her self-titled album was only released this year but the musician – who grew up in Blackheath and Hither Green - has been working hard for a long time to get where she is today.

“It has been 15 years to become an overnight success,” she said. “I’m definitely one of those.”

In that context, the impact of her Mercury nomination on her career cannot be overlooked.

Eska said: “I was walking on air. I still am.

“It is the one award that means the most to me. It is an opportunity for independent artists to receive recognition on a national and international scale.

“It enables my record to be listened to by an incredibly wide listenership. Within three days, my Spotify streaming had gone up by 3,000 per cent.”

She added: “It’s all the things every artists hopes for but without a lot of backing it is virtually impossible to get, so the Mercury Awards do a lot for independent artists and labels.”

Music’s ‘best-kept secret’ is a phrase that has followed Eska around and she admitted it was bittersweet but felt her journey had been the right one for her, making her resulting album stronger.

She said: “I am so thankful for the route I have taken. I hope it is an inspiration to other people to stick with it. There is nothing wrong with taking your time with things, it’s OK.

“The industry makes people feel that if it hasn’t happened yesterday then you weren’t any good.

“It’s ridiculous, the conflict of being a creative and having to get involved with an industry that is so time sensitive. Creativity isn’t and it shouldn’t be.

“You’re ready when you’re ready.”

Not everyone was slow to catch on to Eska’s talents - in 2013, Jamie Cullum described her ‘vocal facility that is virtually unmatched’, while DJ Gilles Peterson has described her as ‘possibly my favourite singer from the UK’.

Eska, who now lives in Peckham Rye, was naturally grateful for the compliments.

“Of course, when your contemporaries are willing to make statements like that off their own backs - it’s a heartfelt response to the music they are hearing - it is really touching because they didn’t need to say that,” she said.

“It has helped, because of the platform that they stand on placing me alongside them has been helpful.

“As an independent artist, to have people who are much further down the line bringing you up, makes me so grateful.”

MOBO-winning singer-songwriter Laura Mvula also described her as the finest female singer in the UK and Eska is delighted but said she finds the statement ‘difficult to own’ and sees her defining talents as her songwriting, arranging and producing.

She said: “Those things are important to me as a black British woman because I think that can be overlooked.

“A good black female singer, there are loads of those about. I don’t feel unusual in that sense, especially growing up in church.

“Most people sing a lot better than me in my church, so I can’t own that with integrity, but as far as highlighting my work as a songwriter and an arranger, I think that is an interesting story for women to be able to see and realise that there are opportunities and there are women who working in those aspects of music making, not just singing.”

Eska’s self-titled debut album is out now and is nominated for the Mercury Prize, with the winner announced on Friday (November 20). She plays Islington Assembly Hall on November 27. Tickets cost £19.50. Go to soundcrashmusic.com