As we catch up with Darius Campbell, star of stage and small screen, we find him trapped slap bang in between interviews.
He’s busy promoting a musical tour which he’s producing himself, The History of the Big Bands, which visits Lincoln next month.
My slot was scheduled for 5.30pm, then tomorrow, than 4pm, 3pm, 2.30pm and 2.15pm, after he’d done a live broadcast. We settled for 3pm.
It sounds as though the likeable musical polymath is going through it a bit. But he confides that he really is living the dream.
Darius, who used to be Darius Danesh, said: “When I was 12 years old I was part of Scottish Opera in a children’s chorus and performed in the original production of The Trojans.
“Then I was a child actor in Carmen, which went to the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden.
“When I was backstage I always remember what was behind the backdrop curtain.
“There was a space five times the size of the onstage area, and twice the size of a football pitch. It was filled with the stage props and staging from all the great operas – it was a bit like stepping into the other side of the wardrobe into Narnia for me.
“I remember feeling that I wanted to be part of all that.”
But Darius gave up a promising operatic career to study English literature at university, before exploding back onto the scene via Pop Idol and Popstar to Operastar.
His career has now come full circle with the chance to once again beguile the theatre audience.
“I always wanted to be involved in telling a great story. Whether that’s in a love song, acting in Shakespeare or in a West End musical, whatever it might be. It’s the spectacle.”
Having recently performed as Escamillo in Raymond Gubby’s vast production of Carmen at the O2 Arena, this is now Darius’s own chance to run the show.
He said: “I’m experiencing the challenge of producing a tour, which is really exciting.
“I want to transport the audience back to a different era.
“I’ll be reliving the big bands through the eyes of band leaders like Duke Ellington and Count Basie, and taking the audience on a journey through the work of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Nat King Cole. I am supported by big band performers who are among the best musicians in Europe. It’s not just a gig – it’s a show.”
Fans of Darius will know his range. He was Billy Flynn in Chicago, Sky Masterson in the Olivier Award-winning Guys and Dolls and Rhett Butler in Gone With The Wind, all in the West End.
He wrote Colourblind, which went straight to No 1 after Pop Idol, then had a platinum album, five further top 10 singles, and a Sunday Times No6 best-selling book Sink Or Swim.
He has a particular soft spot for swing, and the crooning style that goes with it.
He said: “I love what Amy Winehouse did in reinventing 60s soul. The idea of crooning is something I like. I’m lucky that my training has allowed me to explore the range of my voice.
“The only other singer that’s doing that at the moment is Michael Buble. There’s only six or so specialists.”
So which is his favourite track from the show? After all it takes in music from Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Glenn Miller, Woody Herman and Buddy Rich.
Of course, he’s non committal, but offers this as a tempting tit-bit: “I’m a big fan of everything that Not King Cole did.
“Big band was something that lent itself well to his deep velvety voice.”
There’s good news then, for Darius fans – he’s also putting together a tour album to go with the show, so you can hear his own deep, velvety voice whenever you want to...
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