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Hot on the heels of a personal phone invite to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding, homegrown teen talent Sheku Kanneh-Mason has been nominated for a Classic Brit Award.

2018 has already been quite the year for the 19-year-old, who was crowned BBC Young Musician of the Year in 2016.

As well as playing at the wedding of , he also scored a top 20 record with his debut album Inspiration.

But Sheku, who is a former student of Trinity School, in Beechdale Road, was rubbing shoulders with the likes of pop megastars Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran when he entered the official UK charts at number 18 (as well as topping the classical chart).

Now studying at the Royal Academy of Music, in London, the Mapperley musician has not forgotten his Nottingham roots and made a return to his old Roman Catholic academy at the start of this year to gift £3,000 to the school (matched by another £3,000 from his record label Decca) to help safeguard music tuition at the institute.

Achieving so much at such a young age takes some hard work of course with the youngster needing to practise for at least five hours a day: two in the morning, two in the evening, and one or two in the middle of the day.

(Image: Shawn Ryan)

Despite this he still finds time to support his beloved Arsenal though while also hitting the pitch himself as he plays as a "creative midfielder" in the Royal Academy of Music side.

Never far from his side, although not on the football pitch, is the other half of the Sheku show - the 400-year-old Amati cello, which is on lifetime loan from dealer and restorer Florian Leonhard Fine Violins (London and New York).

Sheku (it’s pronounced Shay-ku, not Shekku or She-ku) is the third of the seven gifted musical children of Stuart Mason and Kadiatu Kanneh. The youngsters appeared in Britain’s Got Talent in 2015 and Sheku’s two older siblings are also studying in London.

(Image: Joseph Raynor)

He began playing the cello at six, and achieved a top-rank Grade Eight, something most youngsters would expect to achieve in their teens, within three years. Also at the age of nine he entered the RAM’s junior academy.

Sheku was the subject of the BBC4 documentary Young, Gifted And Classical: The Making Of A Maestro. There were accolades from the Royal Philharmonic Society and the South Bank Sky Arts Awards as well as A-levels in music (A*, naturally), maths and physics.