Introducing... Mark Joseph, the do-it-yourself pop star with musical roots in Boroughbridge and on the streets of York.

First there was Chris Helme, busking his way into The Seahorses. Then Alistair Griffin graduated from street-singing in York's squares to Fame Academy and onwards to the Top Ten. Now comes a third York busking success story, the 23-year-old singer, guitarist and songwriter Mark Joseph. In March 2003, his self-promoted debut single made the Top 40. Now he is undertaking his first headline tour, with Hull and York his next stops on a 26-date itinerary. Charles Hutchinson discovers how he made his mark.

Mark, you were born in Luton but North Yorkshire played a key role in your musical education. Fill in the details, please.

"I lived at Boroughbridge from the age of ten to 20, and at school I was in band called Badger then I formed Passion when I was at college. The family lived in a cottage at the back of a barn, and that's where the band came to rehearse. The beauty of rehearsing there was that no one else could hear us! You couldn't imagine that in the middle of Luton!"

What are your recollections of playing in York?

"I used to do a lot of acoustic stuff, both before and after I was in Passion. I used to play the Bonding Warehouse a lot, and I used to go to Fibbers a lot; I'd have a few drinks, enjoy myself with my mates and watch a band, and now I'm going to be playing there myself this weekend."

Where did you busk?

"In the city centre, I used to busk outside Toy Master in King's Square and just up from Banks Music in St Helen's Square, and the best I ever did was £60 in an hour.

"I'd do mostly covers, but I'd also throw in a few of my own songs, and it really taught me how to sing, because you have no microphone, so you learn how to project your voice."

What else did it teach you?

"It was good for learning how to get a crowd, to get them to pay attention and then to keep their attention. I learnt a lot from that."

You toured Europe with Passion, living in a beat-up Granada Estate and blagging your way on to a Berlin Rock Festival line-up, but your path to pop stardom did not go smoothly. What happened?

"First I was an unfortunate victim of a gang robbery, losing all my musical equipment, and then my record deal fell through.

"The family, plus my fiance, had moved back down to Luton living in his grandmother's two-bedroom terraced house because I was being courted by record companies and it made sense to be nearer London, rather than travelling hundreds of miles for a half-hour meeting.

"The record label ended up never starting up because it had no funding, and so I found myself without a house in London. We were in a bad situation with nowhere to live and no jobs."

How did you feel?

"I felt bad because everyone had come down with me, so I felt pretty bitter towards the record business. I decided, right I'll do it myself from now on."

How did you set about doing that?

"I thought what's the point of playing to ten drunk people in London club who don't care about you when I could play in schools, where they thought it was great to having someone to break up boring lessons. Playing to schools, people were saying to me 'you really should bring out a single', so I decided I could promote and distribute a record myself."

You had no major label support, no PR, no radio play, TV coverage, marketing scams or media promotion. How come you broke the system and made the charts?

"I got into the charts by the skin of my teeth with pre-orders of 5,000 from the schools tour. But I didn't realise it was such a massive thing I had achieved, because I had no contacts in the record industry.

"So I didn't do Top Of The Pops, and as I've learnt, pop music is an inner circle and unless you are in with the pluggers in the press and on TV, it's a closed book."

Your next single, Fly, reached number 28, and it was at that point that you decided to look to link up with a bigger label, signing to 14th Floor Records.

"I realised I needed pluggers, and I wasn't making any money. Ironically it was costing me money to bring out singles, and I couldn't afford to do it any more. Distribution wise, I could only sell the first single in six stores but once it charted, Virgin Megastores started stocking me, and Warner came knocking on my door."

You released your debut album, Scream, on your label last year but now it is to be re-released by 14th Floor on July 12. What's the story?

"I went to Los Angeles to work with Aerosmith producer Marc Tanner, which was brilliant. We were reproducing my record to a much higher standard, and then to have the legendary Paul Buckmaster come in and do the string arrangements was something I just didn't see happening. I'd asked for a string quartet, and they were saying 'let's have 12 string players and Paul Buckmaster arranging it'. Fantastic!"

Mark Joseph plays Adelphi, Hull, tonight and Fibbers, York, tomorrow. York tickets: £5 in advance on 0870 907 0999; £6 on the door. He is releasing two download-only singles this summer, The River this month, and Lady Lady on June 28.

Updated: 08:44 Friday, May 28, 2004