Georgia's Always Onmymind ; That's Because in the Black Sea Townwhere I Grew Up, the Average Wage Is Less Than the Cost of a Round of Drinks to the Spoilt Rich Kids of Rock, Says Pop Sensation Katie Melua

Summary

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TEN years ago, life looked very different for Katie Melua. She was born in the former Soviet state of Georgia on the shores of the Black Sea.

Home was a one-bedroom flat shared with her mother, father and brother. There was no electricity or running water.

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Georgia's Always Onmymind ; That's Because in the Black Sea Townwhere I Grew Up, the Average Wage Is Less Than the Cost of a Round of Drinks to the Spoilt Rich Kids of Rock, Says Pop Sensation Katie Melua

Her father, Alex, a heart surgeon, and her mother, Tamara, a nurse, went months without being paid as the economy of the newly independent country crumbled.

They spent hours queueing for basics such as bread and smuggled petrol, which they could ill afford. The Melua family's average income was around 5,000 roubles or Pounds 5 a month and each day was a struggle against crushing poverty.

Today, the contrasts coul...

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