WHEN listening to some rock and roll stars it is hard not to begrudge their success. Show business and the world of music has an unsavoury habit of feeding egos and breeding a distasteful arrogance.

But if ever there was a man who was unlikely to fall foul of this trait it is Charlie Landsborough.

Because after spells as a telephone engineer, grocery store manager, driver, navvy, quality control engineer, teacher, soldier and even a postman in Coventry, his feet have remained firmly on the ground!

The singer-songwriter struggled for nearly three decades before achieving recognition as one of the biggest selling artists in Irish history.

And it is a journey that he will never forget.

He said: "I was playing pubs for years and years, getting nowhere.

"I was writing songs while I was a primary school teacher in Birkenhead, but I wasn't making enough from it to make a living and I was thinking perhaps I should forget this'."

However, Charlie's brief flirtation with success as a semi-professional writer finally evolved into something more meaningful at the end of 1994.

His track What Colour is the Wind, which tells the story of a young blind child's attempts to envision the world, caught the attention of Northern Irish DJ Gerry Anderson.

And it was on that station that his composition was first heard by chat show host Pat Kenny in Dublin.

The TV star invited Charlie to perform on his immensely popular Kenny Show Live in January 1995.

Charlie said: "He gave me a great build up and actually had me sing two songs not one, which caught me off guard because I had only prepared to do one.

"The following week I was top of the Irish charts - I think the whole of Ireland were watching because the lottery was on next!"

Coming off the set, the teacher had no notion of the level of success that was about to come his way.

In fact, the programme received its biggest response following Charlie's appearance and a week later his album, also called What Colour is the Wind, was suddenly at number one in the Irish album charts, removing Garth Brooks from the top spot and fighting off fierce competition from one of the biggest-selling female artists in history.

The news was broken to Charlie by his ecstatic son in a muddled telephone conversation, which he recalls as a surreal experience.

He remembered: "He told me I had made the Irish charts, and I asked where am I, 99?' Because I would have been chuffed. And he said, no, you're number two' and the next week I was number one!

"Celine Dion and my name were on top of the charts - it was mad."

After playing in bands with such exotic names as the Rockavons and the Onions while serving Queen and Country' in West Germany and entertaining alehouse faithfuls across Merseyside, Charlie found his new-found fame an unusual experience.

He said: "All of a sudden, from playing in the darkest pubs in Birkenhead I was playing in these huge concert halls.

"I didn't even know the words to all my own stuff, because other people had always sung my songs.

"The first couple of years it was a mixture of nervousness, fear and excitement."

Now he finds himself having sold around 700,000 albums.

He lifted the British Music Country Awards Best Male Vocalist category for three years in succession, and the Southern Country Award for best album.

He has performed across the UK and Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, including a show at the Albert Dock Festival in Liverpool where the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra accompanied him and his band.

His songs have led to his work being covered by several artists including Jack Jones, Pat Boone, Foster and Allen, George Hamilton IV and Daniel O'Donnell.

Add to this receiving a nomination as Best Global Country Artist in the Country Music Association Awards in Nashville, and Charlie can claim having played to packed houses around the globe.

He said: "All of a sudden you get all these accolades and you travel around.

"I've collected a few awards now. I suppose it's something tangible that you can pass on to your grandchildren."

It is certainly a long way from his humble beginnings at the end of the Second World War. The youngest of 11 children, Charlie was reared in the dockland area of Birkenhead.

And it was from across the Atlantic that he gained his first taste of music.

He said: "My dad was a singer and my brothers were all sailors so they came back with guitars and the music from the States.

"My mum was always singing and I thought it was fantastic so I picked the guitar up at about 13.

"I had always sung so I started going to pubs and singing and playing for nothing and they would sometimes send me over a pint or two."

Putting his education to the back of his mind, Charlie would stay up late playing the music of Hank Williams, Jimmy Rodgers and Elvis.

Years later listeners across the world will be glad he made that decision, in particular one couple from Warrington.

He explained: "I'd only played Warrington once before and it was a smashing little theatre.

"I don't remember much else of the gig apart from that somebody in the audience proposed and she accepted!"

Charlie's own wife Thelma accompanies him on tour, along with his son and some old pals.

He said: "I take a few friends and my family on tour with me so it's fun.

"We've got a great band and a great sound and lighting outfit too.

"We're touring my new album Heart And Soul, which has 10 new songs and 10 cover versions. I was worried how my stuff was going to stand up against these songs, but it's worked out well. I'm off to London to start recording a new album and I'm going to stick to that formula."

If you missed Charlie's gig at the Parr Hall in Warrington in March, check out his second DVD, A Special Evening, which includes footage recorded live at the sell-out show in Southport.