Boy wonder Connor Maynard is hot property

Like many teens, Conor Maynard has spent a lot of time locked in his bedroom playing pop star.

While most just belt out their favourite tunes in front of the mirror, Maynard decided to tape his performances and put them on YouTube.

Not only did it lead to the 19-year-old from Brighton, England having his own legion of fans, called ‘The Mayniacs’, he also pulled in some big-name admirers.

After getting more than a million hits on YouTube for his performance of Ne-Yo’s hit ‘Beautiful Monster’, Maynard found himself in the surreal position of being contacted by the American superstar.

A Skype video chat was set up, which Maynard conducted in his pyjamas at 1am while his family slept. He explains: “It wasn’t the coolest way to talk to someone like, for the first time. “But when you’ve never been involved in the industry it’s hard to know how to be or how these things work, but Ne-Yo was really cool with me. The first thing he said was, ‘So this is the kid that’s singing my songs better than me, is it?’.”

Following that initial chat, Maynard was flown to the US to meet the ‘Champagne Life’ star and talk business. It has all been an incredible trip for Maynard. His debut album ‘Contrast’ is released on Monday and features guest appearances by Ne-Yo and Rita Ora and a song written by Frank Ocean.

Super-producer and global star Pharrell Williams, who also flew Maynard out to the US to work on some material, believes the ‘Can’t Say No’ singer could change the face of pop music.

Maynard’s sound has been likened to US superstar Justin Timberlake yet he’s also compared to teen sensation Justin Bieber - more for his meteoric rise to fame rather than musical style.

While they may not sound alike, the pair obviously share similar ambitions.

Of the comparison, Maynard says: “It’s under­standable. I just have to strive to live up to it. To reach that would be incredible.

“He’s pretty much the biggest artist in the world now. To get to that level would be insane but as long as people are loving my music, whether it’s a million or 200 million, that’s great.”