Her first love, Beau Dozier, has told the News of the World that Joss — who unveiled a sexy new look at the BRITs this week — saved all her passion for her music when they were an item.

"Our relationship was hardly sexual at all," he revealed. "Sex was never a big deal for Joss — it was like it wasn't on her radar.

"We were a proper couple who didn't have sex. We'd go to bed and just talk and hold hands."

In an exclusive interview Beau also painted a grim picture of 19-year-old Joss's life at the top, revealing how the Devon-born singer is:

*TORMENTED by loneliness when she's on tour, often crying herself to sleep.

*HAUNTED by regrets about her fame and longs to be just an ‘ordinary girl' from Devon again.

*OBSESSED with her career.

Beau, 27, dated Joss for two years before their split in November.

They met when he was working on her second album Mind, Body And Soul, with his father, Lamont Dozier — part of the Holland-Dozier-Holland Motown songwriting team who composed some of the Sixties' biggest hits.

Record producer Beau was dating another girl when Joss swept him off his feet. He said: "The girl I was seeing was the exact opposite of Joss.

"Joss was such a great girl, I was like ‘woo'. I forgot girls could be so cool.

"We started off as friends then fell into the dating thing later when she started touring. I soon ended it with my previous girl."

Loneliness played a big part in getting Beau and Joss together. He said: "We were both lonely. I was working so hard in LA and she was on the road.

"Neither of us really saw our friends, so when we had time off we'd be straight on the phone to each other. We'd keep each other company. We were something consistent for each other and she needed that.

"She's a girl and she needs to be held. She needs someone."

But what she didn't particularly need was sex.

Beau was amazed to hear Joss's new single Tell Me 'Bout It, in which she sings about being "addicted to her man" and begging him to "do it to her".

"Our romance just wasn't sexy," he said. "That must have come AFTER my relationship with her. We had a spiritual connection, but we were always surrounded by backing singers, or on a tour bus, so there was barely ever any time for sex."

But Beau's not bitter. He said: "I'd pick Joss ahead of any other girlfriend I've had, even though they were more sexual because the kind of love we shared was something that not many people experience.

"What we had was something deeper than ‘let's get freaky'. Just to hold her hand and listen to music with her was special."

Beau blames Joss's constant touring for tearing them apart.

He revealed: "Most of our romance ended up being on the phone. It was really hard on me. When you care for someone so much and they spend a lot of time away it hurts. It hurts a lot at first, then you kind of get used to it... but that's when things start going south."

Beau revealed Joss is paying a high price for her fame. At just 14 she was whisked off to Miami to record her first album and she has been working non-stop ever since.

She flits between her homes in Devon and New York and has very little time to hang out with friends.

"She doesn't have a life. Her whole life is her music," said Beau. "She has sacrificed so much and it's difficult for her.

"Life on tour is a lonely road and she suffers from loneliness a lot. She'll often be on her own in hotels crying herself to sleep. Success is everything to her."

She hates fame and the pressure it puts her under.

"She doesn't give a f*** about fame," said Beau. "I don't think she wants to be famous at all. She'd rather share her music with the world with nobody knowing who she was."

But Joss — who wowed crowds at the BRITs in a multi-coloured mini and wild new hairstyle — will never stop making music.

"She is so driven. She NEVER thinks her music is good enough," said Beau.

"She didn't feel her first two albums were good, even though they were amazing.

"She's a perfectionist. I don't think she'll ever be satisfied."

Beau described Joss as the ‘perfect' girlfriend and has fond memories of their time together."She'd stay at my place in LA, I'd hang out at her place in New York," he said.

"We'd sit at my place and listen to her iPod together. We loved going for movies and eating pizza. We loved being able to relax and laugh.

"And when she was away we would talk on the phone."

Loved-up Beau refuses to believe they are over for good.

He said: "She's an amazing person, totally selfless. She puts everybody before herself, and she's a great spirit.

"She made the sunshine come into my world and she brought the best out of me as a person.

"She's great to be around, so I say never say never on us getting back together." Until then, Beau will always be there for her.

"We still chat on the phone all the time. I'd jump on the next plane if she needed me."

Labels: Britney Spears, Joss Stone