The secret's out - I'm engaged to Elvis, says jazz star

Jazz singer Diana Krall has confirmed she and British pop star Elvis Costello are engaged – and said her father let the cat out of the bag.

“Oh my dad. A paper calls my dad, and my dad’s such a kind, sweet man and cannot tell a lie and was asked the question and next thing it’s on the CNN ticker and I’m going, ‘Dad what are you doing?’,” the Canadian star said.

“He’s extremely happy. That’s what Elvis and I both said, the excitement my dad has is pretty great. Parents want their kids to be happy.

“You know, it’s been such a traumatic year for my family, I feel happy I have such a good man. He’s a sweetheart.”

A teary Krall, whose mother died of cancer last year, spoke after receiving the Order of British Columbia in a small ceremony attended by about 30 of her friends and family.

She said Costello was in a recording studio in New York, where both are working on new albums.

“He called me this morning and said pretty soon you’ll be on your mountain bike, on the trails and running, at home in the fresh air,” said Krall.

Krall got cagey when asked when the wedding would take place and whether it will be held in her home town of Nanaimo, on Vancouver Island.

“I don’t know I don’t know,” she sang in a tongue-in-cheek voice.

“I’ve been to New York City and I’ve been to Los Angeles and I long to go home.

“There’s nothing like being able to go to a small town on Vancouver Island and be creative. I can put on corduroys and shoes that don’t match and go to the grocery store and just be that kid at the grocery store.”

Krall, 38, met Costello at a Grammy awards ceremony last year. In January, the pair were spotted shopping together at a Nanaimo record store.

In February, they appeared together in public at a Grammy awards ceremony where Krall picked up an award for best jazz vocal album. That month they also performed a duet on stage at London’s Old Vic Theatre.