Dido has revealed that she took music lessons in America during the making of her new album, 'Safe Trip Home'.

The singer also attended evening classes in English at the University of California in Los Angeles.

Dido, who shot to fame in 2000 after her lyrics appeared in a song by Eminem, said that her classmates were originally unaware of her fame.

"No-one noticed. It's great, no one ever does. I don't go out of my way to be noticed, but I wasn't wearing a fake beard or anything,” she told the BBC.

The singer said she wanted the orchestration lessons to change the way she approached her own music.

"It's actually amazing because you go so far into another side of your brain when you're studying something completely different, and I loved it,” she said.

Dido's first two studio albums – released after her single with Eminem – have sold in excess of twenty million copies worldwide.

(by Jason Gregory)