A good ol' country boy - from Ilkley!

IT'S NOT really trendy to like Guy Mitchell and Randy Travis, especially when you're a schoolboy.

While his other friends were heavily into the likes of Oasis and the Stone Roses, it was country music which was Adam Couldwell's one and only passion.

His earliest memories as a child were of listening to the sounds of legends such as Garth Brooks and Johnny Cash with his grandad, and by the age of seven he was learning to play the guitar, writing his first song by the age of ten.

Now, eight years later, Adam's childhood dream could soon become a meal ticket to fame and fortune. A recently signed five-album recording contract with Focus Music will hopefully ensure the release of his first single in the summer, with the promise of many more to come.

And it's almost certain that last year's trip to Nashville - where he played at the Mecca of country music, the Grand Ole Opry - is the forerunner of things to come, with his recent tour alongside star act Reba McEntire confirming his standing with America's country music set.

Adam is the first to admit he's come a long way from his Ilkley roots. Yet he's also the first to swear his allegiance to Yorkshire, which he says will always be his home.

Says Adam: "I've never known anything other than country music - it's all I've ever wanted to do and I was prepared to prove people wrong and show that I could really do it.

"But I'm also trying to keep my feet on the ground. No matter how famous you become, you should always know who you are, where you come from. I go to Ilkley on a regular basis and see my friends there, who treat me as any other person.

"Yorkshire will always be my home and I'll never forget that."

And Adam's family are also one hundred per cent behind him. Mum Dawn now acts as his agent and his best friend.

"Mum's really proud of what I'm doing," says Adam.

"My sister, Natasha, is also very supportive. There's no conflict between us and she's fully behind me - help and support from my family is really important to me."

At just 18, it seems like the world is at Adam's feet. But the road to fame and fortune has not always been an easy one, which makes his story all the more remarkable.

As head boy at Ilkley's Cleveland House school, he could often be the subject of much ridicule from everyone from his school friends to his former teachers.

"People at school were never really nasty but they did use to tease me about my interest in country music," says Adam. "There was also the odd teacher who didn't believe I'd seriously make it as a musician.

"But in a sense, that was good because the criticism made me a lot stronger. It taught me how to keep my head down, handle the comments and make sure I got things right."

And that's exactly what Adam did, and after playing Ilkley's working men's clubs and pubs for years, he's now set to take on bigger venues after the release of his first single in July, which he hopes will make the mainstream charts.

Adam is now in Harrogate with his mum, and his new-found fame made him the subject of a TV documentary, Rich Kids, screened in April. But, he says, that's precisely what he's not.

"People have this conception of me as having loads of money, but really I haven't," says Adam. "This is what I've always wanted to do and I'm determined to make a success of it.

"It's been hard work. When I was at school, because I was head boy, people expected me to do well academically. I was determined to prove people wrong and now, with the record contract, I feel like I've achieved my ambitions.

"It's just a matter of creating a whole new set of hopes and dreams and to live them while trying to keep your feet firmly on the ground.

"It's quite scary and it's going to be a lot of hard work, but I'm determined to make a success of it in every way I can."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.