Don’t ask Betty Who any more: Aussie prodigy set to support Katy Perry on tour

AUSSIE-BORN music prodigy Jessica Newham is on the fast track to pop stardom thanks to a wedding proposal video and a gig backing a global superstar.

Australian pop artist betty Who, who grew up here and moved to US when she was 16, has scored support slot on katy perry tour.

JESSICA Newham left Australia when she was 16 to study cello and returns home as fledgling pop star Betty Who as the support artist on the Katy Perry tour in November.

The bubbly 23-year-old exploded in the US last year via YouTube when her song Somebody Loves You was used as the soundtrack to an elaborate marriage proposal.

Fan Spencer Stout organised a flash mob of family and friends to dance to the song in the lead-up to proposing to boyfriend Dustin Reeser, with the video scoring more than 12 million views.

“No one had any idea that video would go totally insane viral,” Newham said.

“The boys found my song on Spotify and both loved and it has been the most beautiful thing to be a part of.”

Prodigy ... pop artist Betty Who has made her mark on the US club charts.

Newham was musically gifted as a child and with the support of her family, moved to Michigan to study cello at the Interlochen Centre for the Arts, whose students have included Norah Jones, Rufus Wainwright, and Josh Groban.

After that she went on to the prestigious Berklee College Of Music in Boston where cello took a back seat to her love of pop music.

“It became very apparent I was not supposed to be doing cello and I loved pop music when I was growing up, Britney Spears and NSYNC,” she said.

The Amazonian performer who towers from the stage at 188 centimetres tall has made her mark on the US club charts with her first two EPs.

Dozens of American magazines from Time to Elle have nominated her Betty Who as an artist to watch this year.

TITLE: Flashmob proposal to Betty Who's Somebody Loves You SIZE: 650x366px CAPTION: Spencer Stout used Betty Who's Somebody Loves You for his surprise proposal

She hopes to have her debut record ready to showcase during Perry’s tour which will be her first gigs back home.

Newham said she had no idea her manager had even put her in the running for the coveted opening slot for the 23 concerts on the Australian leg of Perry’s Prismatic World Tour.

“I was in a van with the band and my manager says ‘You have just been chosen to open for Katy Perry. In Australia.’ Everyone went silent — that’s how you know something has totally blown me away,” she said.

With Betty Who’s second EP Slow Danicng now out, Newham has her sights set on conquering the Australian charts.

“To have a song become popular in Australia, to come back and play those shows with katy and have people be receptive to my music is on my top 5 list of things I want in my career,” she said.

Originally published as Don’t ask Betty Who any more: Aussie prodigy set to support Katy Perry on tour