MOST people claim it was a specific event that led them to choose their vocation.

It might be a six-year-old who decides to be a nurse after confidently applying a plaster to a friend’s scraped knee, or a scientist looking back to when they first asked Father Christmas for a chemistry set.

If he’d followed his first choice, pop star Lemar could have ended up in a very different career.

As a student, he planned to study pharmacy at university, but something didn’t feel quite right.

Instead, he followed his heart and applied to be on BBC One reality music series Fame Academy, pitting his singing skills against 11 other hopefuls in the hope of winning a recording contract.

While his soulful voice seemed perhaps one of the most accomplished on the show, he ended up coming third.

Even so, 30-year-old Lemar has fond memories of his Fame Academy experience.

“I wonder what made me enter the competition in the first place – it was all odds against me, but I’m glad I applied. At the time, I was like ‘urrgh third’, but it’s worked out really well and I’m glad I took the chance.”

Fame Academy’s loss turned out to be a gain for record label Epic.

After they signed Lemar, his single, Dance With You, did better than expected and Lemar knew turning down that university place had been the right decision.

“The whole recording process was dead exciting and the single went in at number two and I was just over the moon at that reception,” he recalls.

A second album, Time To Grow, followed in 2004, but it was the single If There’s Any Justice that transformed Lemar into a household name. Album three, 2006’s The Truth About Love, cemented his place as a member of UK R‘n’B royalty.

Lemar’s life took another turn at the beginning of 2008, when his long-term partner Charmaine Powell gave birth to a baby girl.

While music remains an important part of his life, he says his priorities have changed.

“You always miss your loved ones when you go on tour, now I’m definitely going to miss the little one,” he says.

“I missed her when I was recording. As she grows, she develops even more of a bond with me, so the leaving becomes that much harder. But I also know I love what I’m doing and I do it so I can provide for her. So it’s like being stuck between a rock and a hard place. It’s cool though, I’ll get through.”

Fatherhood had an immediate impact on his work, especially as he was working on his fourth album, The Reason, at the same time. Lemar admits he felt pressure to write songs that reflected his new status.

“After about a month or so I thought, with this album I’m just going to let myself go, just be me. I’ve had quite a lot of success and achieved quite a few things – I should embrace all that and celebrate it.

“I obviously wanted it to be better than the last album. I want to have a better single than the last single, that natural competition is in me. But I think the personal pressure I would have put myself under isn’t there any more.

“This isn’t my first album, it’s my fourth, likewise, it’s not my first tour. This is the tenth single and so I feel much more relaxed with who I am and I’m just happy to still be doing it. I’ve got the opportunity to bring out some more music and hopefully inspire some people.”

Inspire is a word Lemar uses a lot, and while he’s keen to use music to do this, could another career change be in the pipeline?

“As time has gone on I’ve found myself becoming more political,” he says. “I don’t know if that’s down to age, as you get older you see things through different eyes.

“Maybe if you have little ones then you want people to take responsibility for everyone else and move forward.

“Things like Obama being elected as President makes you feel that, as a citizen, if you have an opinion and you pool it together with other people, you can make something happen and you can change something.”

For now though, Lemar is going to stick with music. His new single, Weight Of The World, is out this week and he starts a nationwide tour on March 14. It brings him to Essex later in the month and again in April.

Life is busy, but he’s relaxed about what the future may bring.

“I’m very fortunate to be doing what I’m doing. Now I’m in a position where I can take it a bit slower and really take in what’s going on around me.”