He had a No2 hit, I’m Your Man, in 2003 and his album A Country Soul is out now.
DEAN FRIEDMAN: ‘Well, Well,’ Said The Rocking Chair (CD Baby) I remember hearing the title track on the radio.
Lyrically I thought it was so out there, talking to furniture, though it was more about being on your own.
I was really into words and Dean is a wordsmith.
To this day, I have a man-crush on him.
STYLE COUNCIL: Café Bleu (Polydor) Paul Weller tapped into that white-boy soul thing.
He was rapping then he’d do a bit of sweet song then there was an instrumental.
It was my introduction to jazz as well. My band learned to play Headstart For Happiness from this years ago.
HOOTIE & THE BLOWFISH: Cracked Rear View (Warner) I was on tour in the States in the early Nineties and this band was played on every radio station.
I brought the album back to the UK and told people to listen to Darius Rucker’s voice.
Although it was pop-rock, it had a country undercurrent.
I covered the track Goodbye on my album.
BABYFACE: The Day (Epic) This is the heart of R&B and soul for me.
As a songwriter, he could reduce you to tears. I played this to death.
There’s a track called The Day (That You Gave Me A Son), where he talks about becoming a father for the first time, which is beautiful.
BILLY JOEL: An Innocent Man (Sony) I loved the throwback to Fifties’ doo-wop on the album.
I was working in Jersey as a stand-up comic with a band so took any opportunity to sing these songs in pubs and hotels.
I went to see him last year and was mesmerised by his showmanship.
GREGORY PORTER: Liquid Spirit (Decca) I first heard him on the Robert Elms show when I was doing EastEnders.
I thought, “If there is a God, this is what he sounds like.”
I persuaded producers to let us play one of his songs on the jukebox in the Queen Vic.
He heard it and we got pally.
I saw him at the Royal Albert Hall and sat there drooling.
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