Charlie Landsborough talks about his new departure

“I do country music but I also play lots of ballads, a bit of rock and folk.”

Charlie is renowned for original work, particularly his signature song “What Colour Is The Wind?” about a blind child’s question to its dad.

He said: “I was celebrating a birthday 20 years ago and among the gifts was a song title and the person who gave it to me said: ‘Can you do anything with this?’ I then had the daunting task of writing a song that didn’t sound maudlin or mawkish.”

It gave Charlie his one and only number one hit, albeit in Ireland. “The charts were a lot different there to those in England.” he said. “In Ireland you would get The Chieftans, Elvis Presley and Simple Minds in the charts...in England, they were made up of pop songs.”

Charlie releases a new album, entitled Here, There and Everywhere, next month, composed of songs written by fellow Scousers The Beatles.

“This is a departure for me,” he said. “The record company asked me to do a Beatles cover album as it was the 50th anniversary of the release of A Hard Day’s Night. I was happy to do so; The Beatles had three great writers and wonderful harmonies.”

He saw The Beatles in concert just once when they returned to their home city of Liverpool. He said: “They were absolutely fantastic. The place was full of screaming girls, one was screaming so loudly that John Lennon said: ‘Shut up love, I am trying to sing’,”

Charlie missed out on the wave of Merseybeat euphoria back home because he was serving in the Army in Germany. It was the only time in his life that he had his hair cut really short. “I hated it,” he said. “I have always had long hair...even as a child of ten when it wasn’t fashionable for boys.”

To look at him now, you’d think that Charlie had stepped off the streets of Nashville, not Birkenhead. He said: “I have got people living in my town who think I am American, some people think I’m in Ireland and several people will say ‘what are you doing home?’ ”

His absences from his home town are largely on account of touring with his band, including annual concerts in Chesterfield for well over a decade.

Charlie returns to Chesterfield on April 2 to perform for fans at the Winding Wheel. Tickets cost £20; to book, contact 01246 345222 or www.chesterfieldtheatres.co.uk.