Karl William Lund is a 29 year-old singer-songwriter from Liverpool in the United Kingdom. He is one of the six acts who will be competing on the BBC’s Eurovision: You Decide national selection programme, which will be shown live on tomorrow night on BBC Four.

Karl studied music at John Moore’s University, where he taught himself to play the guitar. Since then, he’s gained a whole host of followers and publicity, after uploading his music to his YouTube channel. American Idol host, Ryan Seacrest was particluarily impressed with his cover of Beyoncé’s ‘Halo’, and went on to feature the clip on his website.

We managed to grab Karl during his final couple of days of preparation before the big show!

Hi Karl! Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to answer our questions today! Congratulations for making it to the final six!

First of all – how did you manage to keep everything a secret, after finding out that you’d made the BBC’s shortlist? Was it really difficult?

It was painfully hard! I got told just before I left London to go back up to Liverpool for Christmas, imagine that!

Your home city, Liverpool, has seen some fantastic musical talent over the years. Who would you list as your influences from the city?

Liverpool has a phenomenal music heritage and seeing the evolution of that city over the years inspires me so much. The Beatles are obviously an inspiration – I think I’m in a George Harrison mood today!

I think it’s important to talk about more recent Liverpool talent though. Keep an eye out for Jetta. I was doing a yoga class in Liverpool just over a year ago and during the final relaxation section, her track ‘Feels Like Coming Home’ came on and completely stopped me in my tracks. Stunning voice and a great productions. She’s recently been working with Pharrell too in L.A. Also, you need to check out Holly Johnson (lead singer of Frankie Goes To Hollywood) with his new track ‘Ascension’. I heard it on Radio 2 the other day whilst I was waiting for my track ‘Miracle’ to debut. It’s the kind of song I wish I wrote!

Are you able to give us any details as to what your performance will look like on Friday night? Is there anything about it that you’d change if you could?

A lot of people are expecting something big and epic to try and match the vibe of the song. But remember, we have a panel on the night who will be offering up their advice on how they see the song being staged in Stockholm. So Friday needs to be between that of a ‘blank canvas’, to allow people to envisage it on a bigger scale, but enough of a rousing performance to get people excited. We have a beautiful backdrop on the screens and I’m wearing a great suit! That’s all you’re getting for now!

Before being part of Eurovision: You Decide – were you a fan of the contest? And have you heard any of the other entries that are competing this year?

Eurovision is brilliant because you just don’t know what is going to happen. I am currently loving Italy and Malta’s entires and I’m looking forward to seeing who Poland choose this year as Edyta Gorniak returns to hopefully represent the country. She famously came 2nd (Poland’s highest result) back in 1994 with ‘To nie ja’

What will you do to celebrate if you win on Friday night?

Well I can’t party too hard on the Friday night as I’ll be on the Graham Norton Radio 2 show the following morning. As soon as that’s finished, however, I’ll be flying up to Liverpool for a massive party with my family and friends.

You recently took part in the ‘Red Hot’ campaign – bigging up red-headed people. Who would you say is your favourite ever red-head?

Tough one but has to be a tie between my music idol Tori Amos who I’ve had the pleasure of meeting on numerous occasions. Gillian Anderson is a close second, I’m a huge X-Files geek and loving the revival season!

Finally, there’s a lot of other famous Karl’s in the world. Who would you say is your favourite?

I had the pleasure of attending the British Fashion Awards recently and brushed shoulders with Karl Lagerfeld. Absolute legend in the fashion industry who has accomplished so much with his creativity and vision – truly inspiring.

Thanks once again for taking your time to answerer our questions, Karl! We wish you the best for Friday night, and hope you have an amazing experience!

Check out Karl’s competing song, Miracle below, and be sure to watch Eurovision: You Decide on Friday 26th February at 20:30 (CET) on BBC Four, or via the eurovision.tv webstream!