EVEN though Charlie Landsborough has always been obsessed with music – he used to sing himself to sleep aged three – it was not until he was 53 that he had his first big hit.

He started singing on a semi-professional basis in the 1960s while working as a teacher, but with limited success.

That was until the release of What Colour is the Wind? – a song about a blind child’s attempts to see the world – in 1994, whichwent to number one in the Irish charts.

Since then, Charlie has remained one of the UK and Ireland’s top country acts, as well as in Australia and NewZealand.

Now 74, he is still recording and touring the world, and has released 11 albums to date.

He has also had two number one singles in Ireland, several of his albums have topped the British country charts and he has been inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

His new UK tour arrives at Clacton’s West Cliff Theatre tomorrow.

“I love touring,” said Charlie. “We all get on, all of us in the band, so it’s like travelling with my mates.

“I travel in a motor home with my wife and son and if there is time, get to see parts of the country I would otherwise not see.

“My wife didn’t get to come on tour when the kids were little, so she likes to be able to now."

Charlie was the youngest of 11 brothers and a sister brought up in the dockland area of Birkenhead, Merseyside.

He said: “My early years were extremely happy. My brothers were all sailors and apart from the guitars and all the music, they brought home gifts from all around the world.

“I was always surrounded by music and my dad told me I used to sing myself to sleep when I was about three.

“He was a ballad singer billed locally as the Silver Voiced Tenor and one of my earliest recollections is of sitting on his knee at a do and duetting with him on You Take the Tables And I’ll Take the Chairs.

“My mother’s favourites were Gracie Fields and Hank Williams – now there’s a combination.

“My brothers, of course, were returning from their voyages with the first guitars I’d ever seen and wonderful country music from such artists as Hank Williams, Jimmy Rodgers, Ferlin Husky and Montana Slim.”

Charlie is grateful to be living the life he does and making music.

“It’s thanks to the great support of all the marvellous people we have met around England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales that I have the life in music I had always striven for,” he said.

He has had a spell in the Army, worked as a postman, grocery storemanager, quality control engineer and, finally, a teacher.

“All the time my dreams were of music,” he added, “and I’ve had all those people making an impression on me.”

Charlie is at the West Cliff Theatre today at 7.30pm.

Tickets cost £21 on 01255 433344.