The Telegraph have dubbed him the future of pop music. Everyone else is hoping that, in the very least, Conor Maynard the UK's answer to Justin Bieber. The 19 year-old Brighton lad releases his next single 'Vegas Girl' on July 23, 2012 and Parlophone will release his album 'Contrast' on July 30. But how did Conor Maynard come to find himself at the centre of a record label bidding war, or chatting to Ne Yo on Skype, whilst his school friends were all busy studying for their GCSE's?

Maynard's story is actually rather sweet - if a little sickly - and certainly draws parallels to Justin Bieber's own rise to fame, which involved recording YouTube videos and being discovered by Usher. Conor used to get pestered by the girls at his school to sing for them during their lunch hour and eventually he started to post videos on YouTube for them instead, so that he could start to enjoy his packed lunch a little more often. His re-workings of well-known songs fast became an internet sensation and his cover of Ne-Yo's 'Beautiful Monster' eventually received over 10 million views, prompting the R&B star's manager to get in touch.

He may be from the seaside town of Brighton but Conor Maynard's music is doused in American influence. He's been working with PHARELL WILLIAMS, Frank Ocean and Ne Yo on his debut album and his next single is called 'Vegas Girls,' even though he confesses never to have been there, in his interview with The Telegraph: "It's really tongue in cheek, even just the fact that I'm from Brighton and I've never been to Vegas. I've never met any of those women - to me it means it doesn't matter where you are, or who you're with, if you're having fun you can be anywhere in the world." We suppose 'Brighton Girls" wouldn't have sounded quite the same over a slick R&B beat, huh?