It's been a strange few months for the music world. Many of the greats have gone to the big concert in the sky - musicians, singers, actors, icons from my childhood. Newsfeeds and newspapers announced their demise. Many of us reminisced over the days now long gone, never to return. But, happily, the future holds more in store. A star is born, often enough to fill those gaps left behind. I like to think that our islands will produce such greats. One such rising star, born on August of 2002, is shooting to heights but still has her feet planted solidly on the ground.

I meet Destiny Chukunyere on the church parvis in Birkirkara. As we head to her grandparents' house a few metres away, it is evident that she is well known and popular too. A young postwoman greets her by name, a passerby yells "hey Destiny, well done", and someone who lives in the area stops to congratulate her on her latest achievement. And this is in the space of two minutes.

Safely seated on her grandparents' sofa and gratefully sipping a cup of tea on a chilly windswept Saturday, I ask her how she copes with it all. I think cope is not really the word I need to use, but the age gap between us reminds me that youngsters see things in a different way. Destiny seems unperturbed by the whirlwind experience. She has taken things in her stride, says she hasn't changed and this will not change her at all. I'm inclined to believe her. She's so down to earth, so practical, and so focused, that I hope and pray she remains untouched by this rise to fame.

I can see that Destiny has no airs and graces, that she's exactly who she says she is. Her grandmother tells me she's quite the prankster and her grandfather nods in agreement. She's given both of them enough shocks to last a lifetime, yet she still has a lifetime ahead. They have both been victims of her jokes, which she delivers with the straightest of faces. She must be good if they're still falling for her pranks this often.

Destiny has her weeks planned out. She really enjoys school - she's a pupil at Our Lady Immaculate in Hamrun - and loves music and drama. No surprises there. She's not averse to trying to play a few tricks on her teachers either, and uses her charm and winning smile to occasionally ask her teachers not to give the class homework. Now if only that ever worked, she'd be the class heroine. But school and homework are the norm for girls as young as Destiny.

Although she enjoys school, on returning home she likes to chill for a few hours after lunch, perhaps watching television, before starting homework. That done, the entire family sits around the table together for supper. Her mother and her younger brother Isaac, her grandparents, aunt, cousins, and great aunt all eat together. This, she says firmly, is family time. She's quite the homebody, I note.

I ask Alexia, Destiny's mother, why Destiny loves being at her grandparents' house so much. I mean, it's not like she's a little thing who's waiting for the odd bag of sweets or bar of chocolate to be slipped into her hand. Destiny pipes up and says. " I was born here, so it's my home too." And there you have it - teen logic.

It seems that Alexia gave Ndubisi, Destiny and Isaac's father, a run for his money before finally saying "I do".  The poor Nigerian footballer probably didn't know what hit him. Today, a football coach and father of two, I like to think that he's happy he took the step to come here and play for a club while at the height of his football career.

Conversation turns to the cabinet behind me. It's packed to overflowing with trophies Destiny has won. I find it impressive that one so young has been such a success already. Has she always wanted to sing? Did she sing in front of the bedroom mirror, hairbrush in hand, belting out the latest hits? Not a hairbrush, but a ruler, or a pen, she says. Markers are now popular, and Destiny tells me that she needs a marker in her hands as it helps her feel grounded. Her Nannu had a van with sliding doors. She'd get into the van as a slip of a thing and perform for anyone who passed by.»

Now I have seen this young lady being interviewed, and love the way she has a perfectly practical answer for any questions thrown at her. She is honest, funny and gets straight to the point. There are no platitudes or beating around the bush with her. It really is a "What you see is what you get" scenario. Alexia attributes it to her daughter's African blood but it transpires that the members of her side of the family are also extremely down to earth.  Perhaps that is why Destiny is always so appropriately dressed and not dolled up like a mini-Broadway bimbo.

I confess to noticing what she wears when on TV, and know for a fact that it is not only I who approves of her age-appropriate clothing. Her casuals are sponsored by George, her more formal wear is Couture by Gaetano. She's always in pumps but I imagine she'd like to graduate to heels soon. "NO WAY," comes the reply. "I will never wear heels. Over my dead body." I laugh out loud. This girl is indeed the most determined youngster I have met in a while, and it's a refreshing change to find a true individual.

Destiny wants to make people happy. She feels it's important to give back to society. Surely singing makes people happy. Isn't that enough? Certainly not to her. While she now has less free time to spend with the family she loves so much, Destiny has visited terminally ill children and taken part in fundraising events.  She feels it's her duty to do that. She also wants to do voluntary work in Africa when she's older.

For someone so young, with an incredible voice that can belt out so many songs of varying genres, spreading smiles and joy is what makes her happy. That and singing alongside Joseph Calleja and Ira Losco whom she greatly admires. She admits to being awed at performing with singers of such calibre. Somehow I get the feeling this young lady has no idea how magnificent her voice really is. That's how down to earth Destiny is.›‹