ALISTAIR Griffin has not released an album since his post-Fame Academy debut in 2004, but now a song called Just Drive has put the North Yorkshire singer-songwriter back on the right track.

“It’s a long time since the last one and I would have liked to have had something come out sooner, but the nature of what I did in the past didn’t allow me to bring an album out,” says Alistair.

Coming second in the BBC1 talent show Fame Academy was a mixed blessing, even if it brought him a hit with Bring It On. “It was one of those things. It opened a few doors but it closed a few too, and then you have to find your way back and try to find the right door to open,” he says.

“After 2005, I moved back up to Yorkshire and set up Oakwood Studios at Strensall and I continued to write songs. I had a band with Paul Banks from Shed Seven, called Albion, and what was really good was that I got to write with someone like Paul, a Britpop stalwart, who wrote in a different style but the songs were really great.”

Two songs from that time make their way on to Alistair’s imminent new album, Blown Away and the title track, Albion Sky, both demo’ed with Paul at Strensall but now re-interpreted by Alistair in recording sessions with Ed Buller, producer of albums by One Night Only and White Lies.

The album, set for release on the Elbow Grease label in August, will of course feature Just Drive, the phoenix in Griffin’s career. Prompted by motor-racing presenter Jake Humphrey, his friend since Fame Academy days, Alistair tendered the song for consideration as the soundtrack for BBC1’s closing montage of the 2011 Formula One season.

“Jake said they were looking for something original, rather than the usual end credits, and they wanted songwriters to pitch their ideas, so I submitted Just Drive,” Alistair says.

It was duly selected but that meant a mad dash for Griffin. “I only found out a few days before with the final race being on the Sunday, but I managed to finish it on the Wednesday,” he says.

The song caught the ear of Chris Evans, who played it on his Radio 2 show the morning after the Grand Prix, prompting its release on download and a Top 40 chart placing without an official release. “It was kind of an after-thought putting it on iTunes, but it struck a chord with petrol-heads and by the end of that Sunday it had 5,000 to 6,000 downloads.”

Alistair’s star was on the rise again, and the single was reissued with a new video on June 20. “Just Drive represents a new start for me. It’s about the freedom of the road, pushing yourself to the limit and personally, it was a revelation of what I could do,” he says.

Last month he put the finishing touches to the album in London, working on the song I Have Lived with Ian Grimble, who incidentally has produced York singer-songwriter Benjamin Francis Leftwich’s debut album. Ben himself makes a contribution to Griffin’s record.

“We co-wrote one of the songs, a song called Blinding Lights, which will be the next single after Just Drive,” says Alistair.

Analysing how his music has progressed since 2004, he says: “It’s not completely different; the song is always at the heart of what I do, but this album is more an exploration of deeper lyrics, which comes from being more experienced as a songwriter and going through those seven years that have given me a different perspective on life.”

Alistair has had “some big ups and some big downs, some good times and some bad times” and has managed to take both in his stride, but only just. The song Silent Suicide indicates how low he felt. “It’s one of the darker songs on the album, written at a time when I felt utterly lost,” he says.

He did not shy away from writing about those times. “In the past I might have held back, but this time it’s raw and totally honest. I think listening to Leonard Cohen had a lot to do with writing this song,” he says.

He takes a balanced view of what has happened to him.

“I was fortunate to have had some success after Fame Academy. I made the singles chart and the album chart; I wrote with Robin Gibb and toured Europe with him, and then there was the cooling-off period, but I still kept writing and it was good to move back to Yorkshire,” he says.

He is candid about the darker days. “That was when you’ve gone through the mill a bit and you’re looking for a way back when music is all you do. You do despair as you wait for your break.”

He wrote Dutch hits for Di-rect (Hungry For Love) and Do (Angel By My Side) but he craved a return to the fore in Britain, and now the foot-to-the floor Just Drive and the heart-on-the-sleeve Albion Sky are giving him that chance at the age of 32.