THE lights of Las Vegas are to spell out Joe Longthorne's name. This Hull-born singer, whose latest tour brings him home this Saturday, is to perform in the famed resort in April. And it's all thanks to an invitation through a showbusiness friend, the singer Engelbert Humperdinck.

"He invited me to come and see him play while I was staying in Fort Lauderdale," said Joe, who spends a few months in Florida every year..
"It was his manager who came over and asked if I fancied playing in Las Vegas.

"I'm nearly 60, it's not like I'm looking to be a star anymore and I don't need the exposure. I am in a position where I can relax a bit. But Vegas? I said 'Let's go'."

The Hessle Roader, who has previously appeared for a single performance in the resort, at the Silverton Casino, is to perform a series of dates at M, a hotel on the Las Vegas Strip.And while he's looking forward to his residency in the Nevada resort, it's his homecoming gig which is foremost in his mind.Speaking to the Mail from his Blackpool home, Joe is taking a break from his latest series of British concert dates.He has been travelling around to the different performances in a mobile home, joined by his 16-year-old labrador retriever, Kennedy, and, after his battle with cancer a few years back, says he feels in fine fettle."I'm feeling really well," said Joe."No one knows what happens tomorrow, but I feel really good."

This Saturday's show at Hull New Theatre – a venue he's played many times over his career – will see him joined by a ten-piece band."It was backing tracks last time, which I'm not that good with," said Joe.So this time it is the full shebang."

Also on stage will be an American singer and songwriter Rachael Sage, who has been performing with Joe on his British dates."She's going to be one to watch," Joe said."My promoter rang and asked me if I would consider including someone else on the show."I had a look at her performances on the internet. She writes her own songs, and she is a fantastic comedian too."If you can help someone else along too, then I'm there. I've always done that if I can."

Alongside performing a number of his own songs, Joe will be showcasing a series of new impersonations, including David Bowie, alongside his best-known take-off, that of Shirley Bassey.

Brought up in a travelling family, Joe first did his impersonations in the pubs around Hessle Road."Dad would play the piano for half an hour, then mum would sing. After that I would come on in a hat and muffler – I would be top of the bill," he said with a grin."Dad said I was a great little singer, but that I needed to do some 'take offs' and that if I did those, I would have more strings to my bow.

"My first impression was Steptoe and Son, then it was Ken Dodd and Al Jolson – so the string was definitely added."

The show will also give him the chance to catch up with his fans, who have been known to fly from the UK to Australia to watch his gigs. "They've always looked after me," said Joe."There's a group of 200 to 300 of them who are more like friends, it is like a family. We do all sorts of different things, like outings and dinners."

It is the kind of mutual support, which he says Hull could benefit from, in its push to become City of Culture 2017."There's no reason why we can't get it," he said. "What we have to do is get together – all the museums, the shops, everyone – and we've got to shout about it. We deserve it."I'm on board, you can tell them."

He retains a great fondness for his home city and the venue where he will be performing."I go back years with the New Theatre, as do other performers from Hull," he said. "They have the friends and the staff there, without whom the theatre would decline, which is something which I've seen all too often in the past five or six years.

"At one time theatres were changed to bingo halls, then back to theatres again, so it is a good thing when you have the friends of theatres devoted to these places."

He does worry though about the performing opportunities for singers of the future.
Raised on the rounds of the northern club circuit, Joe wonders how the new generation will get the exposure, and work, they need.
"It was hard-nosed on the club circuit but it was great," he said."I look at these wonderful shows like The Voice and Britain's Got Talent and think that most people who come off there have nowhere to go. "They win this million-pound contract, but I feel sad for them. They have so much talent but not a lot of places to perform.

"I look back at what I did, and other people on the club circuit did, I played every single club and pub in Hull. It was a wonderful experience. It was my college."

Joe Longthorne's performance is at Hull New Theatre, Kingston Square, Hull, on Saturday 7.30pm. Tickets cost £20. Call 01482 300300.