IF anyone can convince you of the power and the influence that music can have, Kaz Hawkins can.

"Music saved my life, I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for music," said Kaz, one of the stars of this year's Great British Rhythm and Blues Festival in Colne.

Her remarkable life story reads like the most brutal and shocking blues songs you are ever likely to hear. Abused as a child by an uncle who has since died, drug and alcohol addiction followed. She turned to self-harming and even contemplated suicide. Her children were at one point taken into care. And then trapped in an abusive relationship, her then partner cut her throat and left her for dead.

It's hard to equate all this heartache with the bubbly, witty and engaging personality on the other end of the phone whose conversation is punctuated by many a chuckle.

"It was music that kept me going," said Kaz. "Music gives you that escape. You can lose yourself completely in it.

"When I'm on stage, there's nothing that can harm me. The walls could be falling down around me and I'd sing on.

"When I was a kid going through all that trauma, it was the place I could go to where I'd feel safe. I got emotion from it and I think that's where my passion comes from.

"Every time I start singing, I remember that little girl with the hairbrush in front of the mirror who never had a chance to fulfil her dreams. But now 30 years later I'm a granny, I run around in tutus and boots and you know what? I don't care because I'm making music."

Kaz and her band's powerhouse performance will form part of a special Saturday night on the main stage of the festival at Colne Muni when the line-up will also include Grammy nominated American artist Janiva Magness and Jo Harman.

"It's all the queens together," laughed Kaz. "But it's great to see more women at the forefront of the genre as it's always been unbalanced. For a festival like Colne to try and even out the scales is really important."

Kaz has certainly been doing her bit to further the cause of women in music and blues in particular.

This year with her band she won the European Blues Challenge in Denmark.

"You have to have a completely different mindset when you are in a competition," said Kaz. "You have probably only got 20 minutes to show what you can do so we picked the biggest, baddest songs we could to make an impact with."

Making an impact is something that Kaz has been doing for the past few years. Her debut album, Get Ready, from 2014 saw the Belfast-born artist crash on to the British blues scene picking up awards along the way. Last year's follow-up album Feelin' Good saw her take the bar even higher with more accolades heading over the Irish Sea.

This summer she has released a solo album Don't You Know which is stripped back featuring just her vocals with a piano accompaniment.

"The new album is a step away from the blues and back to my singer songwriter stuff," she said. "I just wanted to do me for a while.

"It's such a high energy ride with band, I wanted to go back to songs I'd written and not had the confidence to record before and also do some new stuff.

"Obviously the blues is in my voice but for this album there's probably more a gospel edge to it.

"Sometimes as an artist you have to take time out for you and follow where your music wants you to go and that's what I've tried to go with.

"But don't worry, when I come to Colne I'll have the full band with me and we'll be putting on the high energy show that people have come to expect from us."

Colne will also represent one of the last chances to see Kaz and her full band as they have announced that they are to stop touring after dates this year.

In a statement Kaz said that it was no longer economically viable for her to continue to fund the band's trips to the mainland and that she also wanted to take time out in 2018 to address health issues.

Kaz Hawkins Band, Great British Rhythm and Blues Festival, Colne, Saturday, August 26. Details from www.bluesfestival.co.uk