AS one of the hardest working musicians in music he has travelled all over the world but singer Paul Carrack admits he has a soft spot for one city. “Glasgow is one of our favourite gigs on the tour because it is a great crowd and great town.”

He said: “When we have played up there [before] on a Saturday night, I might have gone out for a bag of chips after and the town is rocking. We look forward to it really.”

Glasgow music fans should take his comments on the city’s scene seriously, for Carrack is a man who has gathered considerable air miles touring. Having just finished performing in Japan and America as a featured instrumentalist with the Eric Clapton band, the Sheffield-born star has turned his attention to a solo tour that will kick off next month taking him to the SEC Armadillo on Sunday, January 19.

“Fans who have been along before will know that it is not a greatest hits show. We do play the big songs, the hits, but I’ve made, apparently, 17 solo albums so there is a lot of material to choose from. It is a mixture of stuff throughout my career.

“Each year we try to push it along and make it a little bit better than the last year. That is a challenge because we are definitely not coasting. We try to progress and we always take it up a notch in terms of production.

“It’s a good, high-quality show. We try to give value for money, it's not a cheap ticket but you have to put on a good show.”

At 68, Carrack has had a career most would envy. Dubbed The Man With The Golden Voice, he rose to fame in the 1970s as the frontman of Ace, where he wrote the classic How Long. He was the voice of Squeeze on Tempted before Mike and the Mechanics' Grammy-nominated hits The Living Years and Over My Shoulder.

Today, Carrack is focused on his solo career and continues to tour the world with Clapton. The dad-of-four, whose son Jack plays drums in his band, said: “I look back on the whole thing knowing where I come from and being completely self-taught and clueless and not knowing anybody – and I think it’s amazing.

“It’s been a fantastic experience playing with Eric. He’s a legend. It’s great to have that respect that you’re accepted amongst the fold. I don’t count on it. I still like to think I’m doing my thing, that’s the most important thing to me.”

Carrack promises that he will return to the studio after his tour and, in the meantime, fans can enjoy his 2018 release These Days which became an unexpected digital hit.

Carrack explained: “My last album These Days, I thought it was a really good album. Our main supporter over the years on mainstream radio has been Radio Two and there have been massive changes down there. I got the complete cold shoulder. It was a little bit of a knock-back, it hurt me.

“But one thing that came out of it was looking at Spotify. The numbers were going through the roof. We were getting one million streams a month at least. You are thinking well somebody is liking this.”

With admiration from fans over his last release and a consistently successful career, it might be surprising that he is a bit of a worrier. “I wish I had worried less about surviving. I still worry about it now and I am way past it.”

He added: “Now I would say is a fantastic time because a lot of the heat is off. I have made a living, my kids are grown up, we have kept a roof over our heads and I have played with some fantastic people.

“I still enjoy my music, I am pretty independent, you know. I am self sufficient. If it all ends tomorrow I would say I have been so so lucky to follow the dream of it.”

For tickets to Paul Carrack’s Glasgow show, visit www.sec.co.uk