ROD Stewart says 20-year-old Paisley-born singer Paolo Nutini will be bigger in America than Robbie Williams.

Paolo sold more than a million copies of his debut album, These Streets, last year, and toured America with Paul Weller and the Rolling Stones.

Now Rod is predicting Paolo can be a star for decades - just like him.

Rod said: "I think he will do very well because he comes across as being quite humble, which I think is always appealing.

"Paolo is also vulnerable, unlike Robbie Williams, who I think is sometimes a bit too British and brash - a bit Norman Wisdom-ish.

"There is a lot to staying around as long as I have.

"Paolo has got the voice, there is no doubt about that.

"I just hope his record company do not watch the bottom line all the time and see this guy can be around for a long, long time.

"He has a great future, and I really mean a great future."

Rod and his daughters Kimberley and Ruby are fans of Paolo's music.

Paolo is thrilled with the response from Rod and said: "The best thing about meeting someone like Rod Stewart is he knows the score. He has been a young kid putting himself out there."

Rod's comments are in a BBC documentary, Paolo Nutini Takes On America, which charts Paolo's attempt to make a name for himself in America playing 26 sell-out concerts in New York, Philadelphia, Boston and Los Angeles.

But he said touring in the United States stopped him from writing new material to follow up the remarkable success of his debut album.

He said: "I have lost a bit of inspiration because I am so tired."

n Paolo Nutini Takes On America, BBC2, June 7, 10pm.