TICKET sellers at the Grand Opera House will swap the box office for the stage as they help York's "music man" entertain the city.

Vicky Haswell and Charlotte Carlton are among more than 80 Yorkshire singers chosen to help Bev Jones celebrate his love of music.

Bev, a professional singer and director of musicals, has pulled together his favourite show pieces that will be performed at the Grand Opera House on Sunday, June 5.

Amateur singers from York, Bradford, Leeds and Tadcaster will help him realise his dream, which will include pieces from Les Miserables and Miss Saigon and music composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Neil Diamond.

Bev has a surprise for his fans - he will sing for the first time since 1988. He said: "I used to do cabaret and shows and musicals for years, but in the end I wasn't enjoying singing anymore so I went into directing musicals and haven't sung since.

"My wife talked me into singing this time though, she said people will remember me in York and they wanted to hear me sing."

His concert, called I Got The Music In Me, will also feature guest performances from two West End stars.

"It will be music that I've loved doing, instead of being told what to do by other people.

"It will be music I love playing and that I've loved teaching.

"Music is my great love," he said. "I couldn't live without it." Charlotte, 32, said she could not wait to leave the box office for a night and sing on the stage she has watched so many people perform on.

Last year she sang with the York Light Opera Company in Jesus Christ Superstar and her colleague, Vicky, enjoyed it so much she signed up for the company's production of Anything Goes this year.

Charlotte said: "Singing in Bev's production is a thank- you for the help he gave me in Jesus Christ Superstar.

"I'm always singing around the house and I was in York Youth Choir when I was about 15, but I never thought I'd sing on a stage like the one at the Grand Opera House."

Updated: 10:26 Friday, March 18, 2005