The singer-songwriter from the Fillmore district has become the surprise favorite of the PopMontreal/Sirius Satellite Radio Fan Choice Awards contest, having had the top two ranked songs out of 800 bands and 6,000 songs.

You've had some strange jobs to support your music career. Can you share some of them? I briefly took a job where I was working for a company that was trying to get people to have their chimneys swept. I also worked as a dog walker [in San Francisco] and taught ESL to postal workers in France.

Has living in the jazz district of San Francisco inspired you? Oh yeah, every time I go to the little corner grocery on Oak and Fillmore, the Key Food Market, I know all the guys, and they're always listening to great stuff. Some of it is jazz and some of it hip-hop. It's a lot of this mish-mash stuff from all over the world. It's cool. And it's kind of what I like to really like in my own music, a mix.

What's it like to see your songs maturing into hits? I worked my butt off over the past years to try to do this. It's really sweet because I've put a lot of effort into it, and it is the reason why I do those crazy little jobs.

If you could see your career go anywhere, where would that be? I had a couple of calls from record labels so I might choose to do that. I'd like to go on an international tour. Once I get the pop thing going, I want to go back to write a score for a film.