Australian electro-pop singer and former child actor Sam Sparro enjoyed a global smash this year with Black and Gold, a whole world away from his first paid gig in a McDonald's advert. He talks about success, mixtapes, styling himself and Pat Kenny being a plank.

Where did you get the idea to do an online mixtape entitled Songs Not Bombs?

Actually, it's quite a funny one. I read that I had done a mixtape called Songs Not Bombs and I hadn't, so I thought I might as well. It was a nice opportunity to mix up a load of my favourites tunes both new and old -- so you've got MIA, Klaxons, The Gossip, Roísín Murphy and old classics from Soul II Soul and Visage.

So are a lot of other things that are written and said about you happen to be untrue?

I'd say between 40-50pc of what's printed is inaccurate. There tends to be so much cut and paste in journalism. I've read that my dad is a baptist minister and my mum used to be Miss Finland.

My father was a gospel recording artist but his tastes were very diverse. My grandfather is a well-know jazz musician and played with Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr in a television orchestra. My grandmother seems to check my Myspace page every day, which is funny!

You've taken full control of all your artwork and videos. Is this proving to be rewarding or demanding?

I love the creative side of it. Creating graphics and making videos is so much fun and extremely rewarding. It's the plus side of the job. I love the singing, dressing up and having fun. The endless travelling can be a drag, and so can endlessly talking about myself! While I like a lot of things about touring, it's not a normal way to live. Some people go on the road and never come back -- look at the likes of Axl Rose! You go a bit loopy, so it's good to get back to reality.

Yeah, because I was just making stuff for myself in my bedroom, so to have played on radio all around the world is amazing.

I never expected it to take off the way it has, but it's so exciting. I want my music to take people out of their own life a bit and make them feel happy and feel that they're more than what they think they are, whatever that is. The world is not as ordinary as people want you to think it is.

If the music can make you forget about your stupid job and your bills and your relationship problems for half an hour, I'm happy with that.

Do you intend to act again or do you harbour any other creative ambitions?

I'd like to do get round to some side projects and release other music under different aliases. I'd also like to do some filming again, but on the other side of the camera and do something that isn't too fluffy.