Struggling to find her feet at school, faced with bullies gathering at the gates and finding it hard growing up to performing alongside her all-time hero Celine Dion - Alice Chater is being tipped as the next big pop star.

The self-confessed "goofy girl" from Ramsgate is on the path to the top of the music industry, already working with some of the biggest names in the business.

The last 12 months have been a whirlwind for Alice - securing her first record deal, getting recognised on the streets of LA, planning her debut album and preparing for her first headline tour.

Scroll down to watch her new video and hear from Alice

She has also been busy working on her latest single, Tonight, which was released earlier this month and named BBC Radio 1's best new pop song.

But it hasn't all been easy for Alice as she opens up about finding school "really hard" after being bullied when she was 11 at St George's School in Broadstairs.

"It was very difficult," she recalls. "But the music there was amazing.

"I had this teacher called Mr Matthews and he really pushed my singing which was really good. I would always audition every year for the show.

"I'm a little bit goofy and different and all I wanted to do was sing, act and dance. I think other kids didn't like that and understand me. I couldn't really fit in.

"It's definitely made me stronger now and who I am.

"To be cool you had to be not doing musical theatre, singing or dancing and be a bit naughty, and that was cool.

"I would never stay quiet and if I saw something wrong I would speak up, and that's where I got into trouble with the other kids.

"If I saw someone being bullied or saw something I didn't agree with I would speak out."

Alice says bullies "made her life hell" and she often locked herself in the bathroom to avoid going to school after standing up for a fellow pupil who had been targeted by a girl during a netball game in class.

"I snapped and shouted at her," Alice explains. "I remember at the end of the day I came out of class and had about 50 students waiting outside school just standing there calling me names.

"They didn't come and beat me up but it was mentally hard - 50 girls and boys standing there laughing at me because one girl said they needed to make my life hell because I stood up for someone.

"That has made me such a strong person today because I don't care how much trouble it gets me in. I will always stick up for people.

"The one thing I would tell my younger self would be to not give in and not be my true self because of these bullies. Be yourself - that's what I am now.

"I'm the goofiest ever and don't care what people think of me. I wish I had that mentality when I was younger.

"I would say if you are going through anything now, try your hardest to ignore it and don't be afraid of being yourself and letting the bullies diminish your personality."

But it was the music and dancing where Alice diverted her attention and she says that was her escape and the time she started realising she was a performer, landing the lead role of Annie at the Marlowe Theatre in 2005 alongside Allo Allo star, Vicki Michelle.

Alice left St George's after gaining a music scholarship to go to St Lawrence College but still found it difficult to fit in because she was not "a typical music scholar" and was "a bit of a rebel".

"I felt at St George's I didn't fit in but at St Lawrence I didn't really fit in either because my friends were very wealthy and from different backgrounds," she says.

"I'm a little bit erratic and all over the place and was always late for everything and wasn't doing very well in my academic stuff, which they found very annoying.

"I was into singing soul and Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey and belting out songs, but it was very classical and opera there. I loved that as well but I just wanted to sing pop music because I live and breathe pop."

After leaving St Lawrence after taking her GCSEs, Alice moved to London to study at the Italia Conti theatre school and eight years later, aged 24, she is still based in the capital.

But she says she loves visiting Ramsgate to get a dose of the sea air.

"I think it's becoming really trendy; I love it," Alice says. "They're putting a lot of money into Margate and not sure if they're putting as much into Ramsgate which makes me annoyed but I know a lot of DFLs (Down From London) who have moved to Ramsgate.

"I went back the other weekend and me and my best friend went to the old spots we used to go to."

Her career started snowballing after meeting Will.I.Am at an event and turns out they had a mutual friend, Printz Board, who worked with him on Where Is The Love? by Black Eyed Peas.

"He asked to send me some music. He said we have to work together. I've worked with him a couple of times and been to LA in his studio which is amazing, it's like this space ship. He's been really supportive.

"Within a week, one of my songs I wrote, Breathe, was floating around a couple of the record labels. I got a message to come into the office and was thinking nothing of it because it's so hard to get signed.

"Then I got like five record deal offers in a week and decided to go with Virgin EMI, so they signed me really early on."

In the earlier years she wrote songs for European girl bands, editing their promotional videos and putting videos of her singing on YouTube and Instagram before being noticed by Destiny's Child and Whitney Houston producer Rodney Jerkins who invited her to LA.

She is now friends with Kimberly, Wyatt of the Pussycat Dolls who Alice says she was a fan of in her younger years because of her dancing.

Her fan base is now growing in Spain and Poland and the USA and Alice says she has been recognised in the streets in Los Angeles when working in America.

"I thought the UK would be the first one but it's more European countries loving the music. It's so interesting to see fans from other countries are listening which is bizarre but really great.

"A year ago I put a tester track out to try to build a fan base and get people to listen and we've just been building ever since.

"I didn't really have a penny to my name before, a home either and was living at different friends' houses.

"I was really struggling and didn't have much confidence because I didn't know that anyone would sign me up even though I'd been working hard for years and years. That was definitely a turning point for me.

"Some people will see someone pop up in the charts and you think 'where did she come from' but it takes years and years."

Many are saying Alice is the next big star but she is staying grounded and is focussing on her next project.

"I haven't achieved what I want to achieve yet. I haven't really stopped and patted myself on the back and said 'actually this is pretty good to get this far'.

"I've just released Tonight and did my dream video with that - loads of outfits, dancing, craziness and funny facial expressions and tried to put everything into it.

"I don't like putting too much pressure on myself but I'm like 2019 is going to be the year but 2020 could be when I have my big breakthrough song.

"It could be this year but I just keep going and see what happens."

Alice's musical influences include Aretha Franklin, Nina Simone and modern artists such as Christina Aguilera and the Pussycat Dolls.

But the stand out performer she loves above all others? Celine Dion.

She supported her at the British Summer Time show at Hyde Park on July 5 and for someone who says they don't get starstruck too much, meeting Celine Dion tipped the scales.

Alice says: "I've studied Celine Dion's voice since I was little and was obsessed singing the top note in All By Myself and mimicking her.

"I was obsessed with how big her voice is and how much she could do and how much emotion she could put through her voice.

"I was amazed I was asked to support because she is my family's idol - my parents love her too.

"Meeting her too was just ridiculous.

"I called out her name backstage and she came over to me and took my hand and I just burst out crying.

"She was so worried about me but I couldn't even talk because it meant so much. She was so graceful and elegant and that was a great moment in my career so far.

"I don't get too starstruck but I was with Celine Dion because I think she's the greatest singer we have. She was everything I thought she was and more.

"I supported Kylie Minogue at Brighton Pride but I was obsessed with Celine."

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