AN art teacher has turned her back on the classroom after being tipped as the next singing sensation.

Now, less than two months since the day she was told she was going to be propelled into the limelight, Paule Van Wijngarden is lapping up the limelight as a support act for boyband A1.

Paule is the front woman of one of the latest girl groups, Soda Club. Along with two other members, she is promising to put the fizz back into pop.

The group's first single, the frothy Show Me (Love Me) is out on February 5 and to make sure everyone in their audience knows the song before they leave, the girls sing it twice in a four song set!

For Paule, stepping out onto the stage at venues such as Preston's Guild Hall and Manchester's Apollo, is a dream come true, even if the assembled audience had actually come to see the hunky A1 boys.

Until the summer holidays, she was teaching art at Burnley College and working at an art shop in Accrington.

Paule, 26, said: "I had already had two top 20 singles with a group called Bus Stop, who re-recorded songs like Kung Fu Fighting but that was all over and I had just started to get on with normal life.

"I met up with some DJs in Manchester and had put down the vocals for this song and didn't really think much else about it. It was something in the pipeline.

"Then I got a call while I was in the art shop one Saturday and they told me I was joining A1 on tour. I couldn't believe it." Suddenly going on tour has meant some big changes for Paule, who used to be in a rock band which toured East Lancashire's pubs during her teenage years. "I had just moved house to Blackburn but I am hardly there now," said Paule, who moved from Wigan to East Lancashire six years ago. "Both of my jobs had to go and I am throwing all my efforts into this now because we keep being told we are going to go all the way."

Paule and her two group members aren't keen on being compared to the Spice Girls.

Speaking minutes before she went on stage in Preston on Wednesday, she said: "We do our own thing and the audiences love it. Even the crew say we are really good."

The tour ends on November 18, and will take in big venues such as the NEC in Birmingham. But that doesn't mean a chance to relax for Paule, who tries to get back to East Lancashire as often as she can.

She added: "Then it is on to working towards the single launch, which is on February 5. We have loads of positive feedback about it, and we have a lot of television interviews lined up.

"I really believe we are going to hit the big-time in a big way."

Picture: Front woman Paule (centre) of girl band Soda Club with Sarah Rowell (left) and Tara Hobbs.