Errol Brown has always walked his own musical path, as he tells Charles Hutchinson.

ERROL Brown divides his time between his homes in the Bahamas and Britain, and when the mood takes him he likes to perform on stage.

Earlier this week he opened a 24-date tour, his first shows in Britain for three years. "The days have long gone when I want to be on the road every day, but I'm in a position where I can come out and do it every two or three years when I'm excited. I do it to keep the music alive," says Errol, who plays Harrogate International Centre on Wednesday.

"I've been in this business for 30-odd years, and if you've done all that work, it's nice to be doing it in a way that's still enjoyable and comfortable for me."

Since Errol last toured, he has received the MBE for services to music and the Ivor Novello Lifetime Achievement Award.

"It's been a marvellous couple of years for me because it's made me feel good that people have acknowledged the contributions I've made to the British music scene," he says.

"When I started in the late Sixties, if you were black you were in a soul band, if you were white, you were in a rock band, and there was no in-between, but I was the product of my cultural inter-racial life. Rather than trying to make soul music for the Bronx, I was true to myself and that's what made me stand out."

With his awards in mind, the latest tour set will focus on Hot Chocolate's hottest hits. "On the last few tours, I've done solo material; this time I'll be doing songs I've written right from the beginning of my career, Love Is Life, I Believe (In Love) and A Child's Prayer, things I haven't done for years. They feel like they're new but were hits."

When preparing for a tour, he listens to the old Hot Chocolate records.

"Put those songs together and I think I must have been schizophrenic, but the thing is, that's all part of who I am! With a song like Emma, emotionally it was based on the death of my mother, who was an inspiration for everything I became. I lost her at 19 and there was just me, I didn't have a father around," Errol recalls. "That led me to write Emma, a song about a girl who wanted to be a movie star and committed suicide."

If that song comes from the dark side, then many a loved-up couple would like to thank Errol for his romantic streak and, in particular, You Sexy Thing. "It's like Marvin Gaye's Let's Get It On... the amount of people who tell me they got lucky to You Sexy Thing!" he says.

"But you know, You Sexy Thing started as a B-side to the worst single we ever did, a song called Blue Night. A DJ in Mid-West America flipped it over and said 'What's this song?'."

So, Errol Brown, thanks to that DJ, you win again.

Errol Brown, Harrogate International Centre, Wednesday. Tickets: £19.50, £17.50 on 01423 537230.

Updated: 15:21 Thursday, February 03, 2005