Paolo Giovanni Nutini was born in January 1987 in Paisley. He was first encouraged to sing by both his music-loving grandfather, Jackie, and a teacher at his school who recognised his talent. He was taught to sing by Avril McCusker for over 3 years, but was expecting to follow his father into the family fish and chip shop business. However, he left school to work as a roadie and to sell t-shirts for Speedway, and spent 3 years learning the music business, performing live, alone and also with Dome and Dick from the Dongues, and working as a studio hand at Glasgow's Park Lane Studio. His big chance came when he attended a concert for Pop Idol winner David Sneddon's return to his home town of Paisley at the beginning of 2003. Sneddon was delayed, and as the winner of an impromptu pop quiz, Nutini was given the chance to perform a couple of songs on stage during the wait, receiving a favourable reaction from the crowd. Shortly after, Daily Record journalist John Dingwall saw him performing at the Queen Margaret Union, and invited him to appear live on BBC Radio Scotland. At the age of 17, Nutini moved to London and performed regularly at The Bedford pub in Balham, and other radio and live appearances followed, including 2 live acoustic spots on Radio London, The Hard Rock Cafe, and support slots for Amy Winehouse and KT Tunstall.

Paolo Nutini was signed to Atlantic Records in May 2005, and released first single "These Streets" as a free download the following year. This was then followed by "Last Request" in July 2006, which achieved number 5 in the UK Singles chart. Debut album ”These Streets”, produced by Ken Nelson (Coldplay, Gomez), was released in the same month, entering the UK Album charts at number 3, and making the Top 50 in the US (number 48). Third single, "Jenny Don't Be Hasty" followed, making number 20 on the UK Singles chart, and December 2006’s "Rewind", the fourth single, reached number 27. Nutini has often collaborated with musician Sam Willetts, and the 2007 single 'New Shoes' was written about Sam after he bought Paolo a pair of shoes for his birthday – this single made number 21 in the UK.

In July 2007, Paolo Nutini was awarded The Golden St. Christopher medal by the city of Barga in Italy (where his family on his father’s side are from), the highest honour the city can give, to celebrate his extraordinary contributions to Barga and its people.