The 33-year-old singer - who shot to worldwide fame after the release of her first single `I`m Like A Bird` in 2000 - admits she felt pressure to succeed in the "very crazy" showbiz world following the success of the track.

She said: "I never wanted to be a celebrity. I was completely aware that when my first single went crazy this was my big opportunity.

"I was a 21-year-old child who`d come from nothing and I was in this very fast, very crazy world.

"I was like, `OK, what happens now?` And there was a sense of, `Am I going to do something different with my life? What am I going to do?` "

Nelly embarked on a self-imposed six-year hiatus in 2006 after getting "burnt out", but last year she got her "life energy" back after helping a four-year-old girl, who had been adopted, into education during a visit to Kenya.

Nelly - who donated £615,000 to charity last year to help build schools in the African country - added: "We made a documentary about the girls who got the best grades, who could go to high school.

"Only 40 could make it - but the girl who really changed my life was the one who almost made it; she was number 41 on the list.

"Adopted at four years old, after her mother found her in a field, she`s a smart girl who blossomed. At the end of the documentary they made an extra space for her at the school. This kind of gave me back my life energy."
sections: Celebrities