The quirky Devon singer serenading shoppers from her piano bike

  • Chloe serenades pub-goers at Launceston's Jamaica Inn

A quirky singer is livening up town centres and festivals around the West Country with her music performed on a "piano bike".

Chloe Marie Aston, 20, from Ilfracombe picked up the instrument for the first time five years ago and has been serenading shoppers ever since.

Now, as festival season draws to a close, she sat down with ITV News West Country to reflect on her career so far and plans for the future.

Chloe said: "It’s such a nice job to have, to go out and play music and make people happy.

"But it’s weird to be kind of a known figure in the South West now."

Until this summer, Chloe helped out in her family's petrol station, which they'd owned for roughly 40 years.

When her grandad sold it in July, she made the leap to busking full-time and plans to continue through the winter.

It's been a busy summer for Chloe, with lots of gigs and festivals across the region Credit: Johan Pouilloux

"I will probably do shorter days with lots of breaks for hot chocolate, but I have some fingerless gloves and last year I invested in an electric hand warmer, so I'm well prepared," Chloe said.

Although she's now fully fitted-out with everything she needs, Chloe's piano bike hasn't always been part of her act.

"I started busking when I was 14 and back then I played the guitar. But I wasn't very good at it and I used to complain about it.

"My dad would sit there, watching me play, and then one day he came up with the idea of putting a piano on a bike.

"I didn’t know how to play the piano at all at the time, so he told me his idea and he said, ‘If I build this piano bike, will you learn to play the piano?’ and so I did.

"A lot of people think I’m selling ice cream and then I cycle past and they see the keys and realise ‘oh it’s a piano’ 

"People often say ‘I can’t believe it, that’s so weird’ 

"Now I’ve been doing it for five years, when I revisit places people say ‘oh look, that’s Chloe’."

This summer she's travelled to fairs and towns across the region, from Launceston to the Melplash Show, in Somerset.

Chloe said her influences include the Norwegian singer Sigrid, and British indie rock band The Last Dinner Party.

She hopes to make music her career and even play at Glastonbury Festival one day.

You can find out more about Chloe here.