BEV Jones will sing in public for the first time in 17 years on Sunday, living up to the title of his song-and-dance revue at the Grand Opera House, York.

Bev is presenting I Got The Music In Me, his celebration concert of his many years as the doyen of York's musical producers, in performances at 5pm and 8pm.

"I'd been singing since the age of seven when I joined the York Minster choir in 1948. I never stopped from then on, and eventually I just got tired of the cabaret scene. I loved the other side of it, the directing, so I ended up concentrating on that," he says.

Bev has been coaxed out of his singing retirement by his wife, Lesley.

"She said people know your singing from doing shows here for many years, so you've got to sing," Bev says. "So here I am, treading the boards again, though not a lot. I'm only doing two pieces in each half."

Baritone Bev's selections are a Kiss Me Kate medley and Some Enchanted Evening from South Pacific in the first half; Impossible Dream from Man Of La Mancha and What I Did For Love from A Chorus Line in the second. "And that will be more than enough," Bev jokes.

"Funnily enough, in all those years of singing, I never had trouble with my voice, and no one can shout louder than me, projecting my voice in rehearsals. I've been doing vocal exercise to get the voice back into trim and the good thing is that vocal cords are such strong muscles and tissues."

Bev is not the sole focus of Sunday's shows. Indeed the bill is Bev Jones & Company, and he will be joined by his show band in the pit, West End star Julie Fox and 106 performers on stage, drawn from York Light Opera Company, Leeds Musical Theatre Company, Harrogate Operatic Players and Tadcaster Operatic Society.

"I've never directed a show for Tadcaster but they wanted to come and have a good sing, so I said 'Yeah, come along, the more, the merrier'," he says.

Sundays' brace of concerts also marks the first occasion that Bev has performed in a show with all three of his sons, West End singer Jay Marcus, keyboard player Dom and percussionist Dan. "Jay will be singing Love Changes Everything from Aspects Of Love, Bui-Doi from Miss Saigon, and Angel Of Serenity, a song I co-wrote in the Seventies for a musical called Penny Millionaire, which never did anything but the music was nice!"

After 40 years, Bev continues to direct shows, with the Bradford Catholic Players' production Pirates Of Penzance up coming, but I Got The Music In Me gives him the chance to enjoy his favourite songs in one show. Barry Manilow and Neil Sedeka, Ode To Joy and a medley of spirituals, The Lion King and Les Miserables, a Bob Fosse dance spectacular and even Bev and the late John Potts's comic piece The Trolley Song, all will feature on his hit list.

"After all these years of writing arrangements, I thought it would be good to do a concert of the music I like hearing, so it'll be a real mixture of musicals, pop and pseudo-religious music," he says. "Nothing too serious."

Bev Jones & Company, I Got The Music In Me, Grand Opera House, York, Sunday, 5pm, 8pm. Tickets: £5 to £15; ring 0870 606 3595.

Updated: 15:50 Thursday, June 02, 2005