Rising Opera Star Faryl Smith Just a Regular 13 Year Old.

Burly bodyguards blocked the pool’s entrance, checking guest identification cards and gruffly informing them that all mobile phones and cameras had to be turned off and that an area of the outdoor pool was strictly reserved ‘for a very important person’.

The VIP turned out to be none other than Victoria Beckham.

For Faryl, whose own fame has yet to reach the stratospheric heights of Mrs Beckham’s, it was a lesson in how NOT to behave. Sitting in an American diner, speaking between mouthfuls of hot dog smothered in chilli, Faryl says: ‘I thought that was really uncool, to spoil everyone’s pleasure just because she wanted to sit by the pool alone. How rude. I’ll never get like that.’

‘It’s something I never wanted,’ she says. ‘I was happy with our life in Kettering. When Faryl heard about the auditions for the talent show she wanted to do it and her father agreed, but I was the one who held back.

‘My view was that if she had a gift at 12 or 13, that gift would still be there later, after she’d had a normal childhood. But she only needed one parental signature on the consent form. If she had needed two, none of this would have happened. I still have huge reservations about where this will all lead. I am constantly worried about losing control over my daughter.’

That fear sparked the biggest crisis of Faryl’s career to date when she refused to sign with Simon Cowell’s record label, instead allowing her parents to negotiate their own deal with Universal.

Linda says: ‘Simon normally signs everyone who appears on his shows to his label. When Faryl started doing the show, a two-inch thick contract came in and I was just, “No way”.

'I love Simon, he’s been very good to us, but I have to put my daughter before everything. People can talk a good talk but, ultimately, everyone sees Faryl as a money-making machine whereas to me she’s my little girl and I have to protect her at all costs. I’m not signing her away to anyone. We went with Universal because they gave us everything we asked for.

  Faryl is currently on a whirlwind tour of the States with her parents and brother to promote her smash-hit debut album, and the past 12 months have taught her a lot about both the pleasures and pitfalls of fame.

This summer Faryl will sing in concert with Spanish opera star Jose Carreras, of The Three Tenors fame.

There are inevitable comparisons with Charlotte Church – the ‘Voice of an Angel’ – who is now a mother of two and whose bouts with drinking and unsuitable boyfriends were all unceremoniously chronicled by the paparazzi.

Faryl says: ‘I grew up listening to Charlotte and I love her voice. But then she branched out into pop music and I think that hurt her career because her fans didn’t want that. I love classical music and that is where I shall stay. I don’t think I’m another Charlotte Church. I’m just me. I’ve never been given a nickname or tag. I’m just Faryl.’