STACEY Kent loves telling stories – it's just that she does it while singing.

Her timeless, soothing voice is both fragile and soulful. She gently gathers lyrics, makes them her own then relays her story to her grateful audience.

Stacey’s unique performance has seen her sell out at venues as diverse as Ronnie Scott’s nightclub in London and jazz festivals around the world.

Next month, she stops off at The Brewhouse in Taunton, the sort of intimate venue where her jazz voice is really suited.

“Jazz allows me to express myself very honestly,” she explains.

“It’s not a theatrical style. I wanted to sing in a way which was very natural, where you could put your own personality into it. Something very natural and also physical.

“I’m a lover of all kinds of singers though. For me, I sing how I speak really. It sounds the same.”

It’s hardly surprising that Jamie Cullen described Stacey as “sitting on top of the world of jazz vocals, for many years”.

Her Brewhouse concert will feature music from her latest album, Tenderly (Sony Records).

The album includes standards such as The Very Thought of You, Tangerine, In The Wee Small Hours of the Morning and Embraceable You.

You’ve heard all these songs before – but not in the subtle, melodic way Stacey Kent performs them.

“Music has always been a part of my life,” she adds.

“Every night, I would come home from school and listen to music, and I had this particular friend who was also passionate about music – we’d always listen to records, check out new artists.

“I remember sitting and listening to Joao Gilberto, who really became my first great musical hero. One of the things that drew me to him was that romantic soul, even though as a 14-year-old I didn’t know it yet.

“I found in his singing there was a very quiet, intense and emotional fragility. It appealed to me because it spoke to me.

“I grew up listening to the Beach Boys, Willy Nelson, jazz and pop. It wasn’t really about genre, more about a sound and mood. I suppose, I gravitated towards a soul-baring singer.”

She found that she had a great aptitude for music although she wasn’t, at that age, looking at a career in music.

She adds: “Music was a big part of my life so when the time came I was quite prepared.”

That time came when American-born student Stacey came to the UK to study French, Italian and German.

While in Oxford, she met saxophonist Jim Tomlinson – later to become her husband – and the couple shared the desire to pursue their love of music together.

“It’s pretty great that I get to do all of this with my best friend,” smiles Stacey.

“We’ll go on tour and do concerts at night and then have the day together.

"The practical things come into it too. I’m not sure I’d like going on tour so much if I couldn’t be with him.”

Her gift for language means her breathless passion sounds as authentic in French as it does in English. She isn’t just delivering a performance, but feeling it.

She first got noticed in the early 1990s, singing regularly at Café Boheme in London’s Soho.

After a while, she literally crossed the road to Ronnie Scott’s where she performed with established jazz acts.

Stacey’s repertoire and audience have expanded with every album. Her platinum-selling album Breakfast On the Morning Tram (Blue Note, EMI 2007) was nominated for a Grammy Award. And her follow-up albums Raconte-Moi and Dreamer in Concert have been released in more than 37 different countries worldwide – making Stacey a truly international artiste.

Her love of Brazilian music is also reflected in her concerts. Her exquisite voice is an unmatched talent for storytelling about those sun-kissed beaches in Rio where the tall, tanned, lovely, beautiful people mingle.

The Brewhouse. Friday, June 3 at 7.30pm.