"I was just not interested in the stuff that they were trying to ram down your throat," Stone says of leaving school at 15 to pursue her music career. "I couldn't have gone to college – I would have had a breakdown or something." Photo by: SCurve Records
Joss Stone | Joss Stone
Joss Stone turned 17 on April 11, but she has more to celebrate than her birthday. The British singer's CD The Soul Sessions, an album of classic-soul covers, has gone gold, and she'll end her birthday week by performing alongside heavyweights such as Gladys Knight and Patti LaBelle on VH1 Divas (airing live at 9 p.m. on April 18). Stone, whose smoky and soulful voice has won celebrity fans including Tom Cruise and Elton John, is in demand: Next month, she'll appear on ABC's Motown 45 special and she'll open for Sting at London's Royal Albert Hall.

PEOPLE.com recently chatted with the energetic and giggly Stone (real name: Joscelyn Stoker) about her ongoing battle with stage fright, her junk-food fetish and how winning any award would be "cool."

You just turned 17. Happy birthday.
It's so funny. People know my birthday now.

How'd you celebrate?
I was in New York, and my mum and my brother were there and we went to Central Park and we went to see The Lion King.

And you're finishing off your birthday week with Divas – not a bad way to get your 17th year going.
I'm a little bit nervous; it's really scary. I've got to sing with Gladys Knight and then I think I'm doing something with Jessica Simpson.

I know you suffer from stage fright.
People say, "One day you'll just be walking onstage and it'll be like walking into a living room," but I don't think it will be. When it comes to big shows like Divas, I get really nervous. I apologize to anyone if I mess up. But it's okay because I've got a couple chances to redeem myself because I'm performing more than once. (Laughs)

You've been compared to artists like Norah Jones and Alicia Keys. What do you think about that?
It's just to make a compliment, really. Some people say, "You're like Janis Joplin," and I'm like, "I'm so not." I wish I was as good as the people that they mention.

You once said soul music found you. What did you mean?
When I first started to sing, I never actually said, "I'm a soul singer." People told me that I was a soul singer. I just used to sing, man, I'm just makin' a noise. I'm just trying to be something good – I'm just trying to work out what it is.