80s chart-topper Paul Young will sing hits and share stories during live show in Chesterfield

Paul will be visiting the Winding Wheel Theatre, Chesterfield, on May 13 as part of his Behind The Lens tour to 96 venues.

He said: “My career has been built on music, and so I wanted to do a musical memoir, where I spoke about how I got into music in the first place and what came next. It’s been fun putting it all together.”

A major star for four decades, Paul broke into the big time when No Parlez went to number one and spawned the iconic hit Wherever I Lay My Hat (That’s My Home) which topped the charts in England and Ireland.

More success followed with the chart-topping album The Secret Of Association and the worldwide hit Everytime You Go Away which gave Paul his first number one in America. Paul said: “Getting to number one is the thing every kid dreams of. You want to be a musician, you want to make a living at it, you want to be in the charts. It wasn’t really until that point that I realised I could do it – I could be a singer for a living. When it happened, everything started going crazy.”

He appeared at Live Aid, duetted with George Michael at Wembley and hung out with the biggest names in the music business including Sir Paul McCartney, David Bowie and Annie Lennox.

While the music press labelled Paul as an overnight success, he had worked hard to get his shot. He was in a group called Streetband, who unexpectedly hit the charts with a fun single called Toast. Paul then built the successful touring band The Q Tips who played for three years in huge venues before calling it a day.

By then Paul’s manager had been asked to sign him to a solo deal. Record labels were vying for the good-looking artist with a honeyed voice and Paul signed to CBS. Paul said: “Back in the 80s, people imagined that when you get a solo record deal, the money truck arrives, you get handed the keys to a bigger house and all your problems are solved. I can tell you: none of that is true. When I signed to CBS, my ‘advance’ was £15,000. That wasn’t much, even in the 80s. I couldn’t even afford to put my keyboardist, Ian Kewley, on a retainer.

“That slow march to a solo deal had been years in the making. I’d been on the road for six years with Streetband and The Q Tips, staying in seedy hotels and schlepping round the pubs. I was glad I’d done it; it had been the best possible apprenticeship for the music business, and you couldn’t get that now.”

Standard tickets cost £33 to see Paul at the Winding Wheel Theatre, with VIP and meet and greet options available. To book go to www.chesterfieldtheatres.co.uk