South London soul singer Lianne La Havas has been named as the headliner for this summer’s massively expanded LeeFest.

The singer - who grew up in Tooting and Streatham and studied in Croydon and Thornton Heath – joins Mercury Prize-nominated Ghostpoet and Roots Manuva among the acts announced.

La Havas said: “I am over the moon to not only be playing but headlining at LeeFest this year. It is a beautiful part of the country and I nearly share a name with the festival. Looking forward to having a sing song with everyone.”

LeeFest began life in the Beckenham back garden of Lee Denny while his parents were on holiday in 2006 and snowballed into a fully-fledged festival attracting more than 4,500 with a reputation for breaking artists before they reach the big time.

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After taking a year out in 2015, it is back from July 28 to 31 and bigger than ever.

Lee told us: It is going to be the next level up, really. It is going to bigger than ever before, more creative than ever before, better run than ever before.”

The 2016 version of LeeFest is different not only because it has grown. It has now become LeeFest presents Neverland and will be spread across three ‘distinct, immersive realms’ and promises ‘the best in new music before it goes global’.

Lee said: “It was very much a natural progression in terms of getting bigger. It has just been organically snowballing since we started.

“Then the new idea of creative a fully-immersive world, like a Disneyland for adults that people could go and explore and get lost in and have little adventures in, we have been working on for a year or so.”

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Lianne La Havas headlines LeeFest presents Neverland

He added: “Every time we push ourselves to do something different or more creative or something we haven’t done before, we are stepping into the unknown.

“That creates a huge amount of work for us but that’s the addictive bit, trying to build things like that and be really ambitious.”

LeeFest has outgrown its farm base in Warlingham that it used for the last few years and is moving to a secret venue close to Tunbridge Wells this summer.

Lee said: “It is obviously a bit bigger, which is allowing us to continue the growth but it is nicely broken up with trees and patches of forest and natural features like water.

“It feels magical, like an undiscovered Neverland. It fits perfectly.”

LeeFest has a reputation for being a haven for new music and has given early slots to the likes of Bastille, London Grammar, Clean Bandit, Years and Years and Jack Garratt before they became household names.

Booking the acts is a collaborative process, according to Lee.

He said: “There is a team of us that do it.

“Everyone throws ideas in the hat and it is myself, Rich and a guy called Chris who go out and co-ordinate all the bookings.

“There are lots of other groups involved in running areas and choosing who to programme.

“It is a massive team effort, really. I don’t think anyone can claim credit for the line-up.

“We have always had an eclectic line-up in terms of styles of music so it is difficult to define one genre that we stick to and that’s because so many people are involved in that process.”

Electronic soul crooner Shura and Liverpool quartet Clean Cut Kid are among the acts Lee is most excited about this year.

He said: “I’m really into new music and discovering new music and next year’s superstars. That is what we have always done well.”

The names also on this year’s bill include dance gurus The 2 Bears, underground favourites Submotion Orchestra, Little Simz and ramshackle rockers Spring King.

Spring King’s frontman Tarek Musa said: “A lot of our good friends and bands we love have played LeeFest, such as Stealing Sheep, Mystery Jets, All We Are and The Magic Gang.

“Pumped to be playing this year. Always dig a festival with a comedy stage, I’m a huge stand-up comedy fan.”

As well as heaps of music, Neverland also hosts festival experiences such as glitter wrestling, drag queens, comedy, paint fights, spoken word, burlesque, hot tubs, cocktail bars and theatre.

Full weekend tickets cost from £99 and are on sale now. Go to leefest.org