A singer whose debut album "Precious Hours" was released on July 3, has seen most of her instruments destroyed in a blaze at her Finsbury Park flat.

Rosie Wilby, was recording an acoustic session with her band Wilby for BBC London Live, when the fire broke out.

"We came back to find the flat completely padlocked and boarded up. The neighbours told us what had happened," said Rosie, whose flatmate Donna Gent is a backing vocalist in the group.

"The main fire was in the lounge where, sadly, I had a lot of my instruments. The landlord estimates the flat had suffered £20,000 worth of damage, and I’d say the contents were worth another £15,000.

Two or three electric guitars melted, along with a four-track recorder, guitar pedal leads and two or three keyboards. The keys are hanging off like icicles. Maybe they’ll be the cover shot of my next album."

Amazingly, Ms Wilby’s favourite guitar, a Crafter FX550EQ, was in a Hiscox case which she’d bought for a tour of Spain that didn’t go ahead.

"The case was buckled and melted but the guitar was fine, and even still in tune."

"The fire investigation people said they thought it was caused by a candle or something, but we hadn’t left one burning. I’m completely at a loss as to what it could have been."

"We did a gig on the Saturday night, and all my friends were requesting Candle in the Wind and Firestarter," she said.

A spokesman for Hiscox Cases said, "Because of the high quality of our products, many people perceive our cases to be expensive, but in fact, they are very competitively priced and offer a level of protection no other case in their class can match, as this incident shows, and with a 3 Year Guarantee they represent unbeatable value for money."