Raised in a strictly religious household in Edmonton, some would say it’s a miracle Benjamin Clementine found his way to a music career.

As child he and his three siblings were barred from the living room unless it was a weekend dinner and Benjamin says: “We weren’t allowed to play anything other than gospel music.“

But now, as he releases his début album, the 26-year-old has revealed what spurred him on.

He had begun teaching himself the keyboard aged 11 when he stumbled upon classical radio rather than contemporary pop; a sparse piano solo by Erik Satie in particular transformed the way he played.

Aged 16, and in a rare moment of permitted TV watching, he caught New York avant-gardists Antony and the Johnsons performing the disarmingly naked Hope There’s Someone on the BBC.

“I was confused, scared… it was another world,“ he says.

“When it finished, I went upstairs and started playing piano.“

Inspired by figures such as Leonard Cohen and Jake Thackray – and with no ties to keep him in London – Benjamin absconded to Paris aged 20; sleeping rough, working in kitchens and busking to earn money – first in the corridors of the Place de Clichy station and then on the trains, a brutal baptism of fire as he barely knew the French language.

His perseverance paid off and when he returned home to Edmonton his musical reputation followed him across the Channel and the striking 6ft 3in singer caused a storm when he made his début performance on BBC2’s Later... with Jools Holland late last year. It was quickly followed by sold-out headline shows at London’s Purcell Rooms, Koko and Emmanuel Centre.

He returns to London this week to perform a sold-out show at the Barbican Centre to mark the launch of his début album At Least For Now, which celebrates his ’tale of two cities’.

Details: benjaminclementine.com