HE'S following in his son's musical footsteps.

Tony White had always sung in the shower, as well as supporting Liam, a young singer, songwriter, entertainer, arranger and producer, best known for his regular Michael Buble act at The Concorde Club.

But the Neil Diamond fan, from Ashurst, had never performed in public - until Liam decided to give him a birthday present to remember.

Liam said: "Dad has always loved singing Neil Diamond songs but has only ever sung to himself, and wouldn't sing in public!

"It was only after I had started to sing a lot more that I managed to persuade him to record a song and see what he thought! So we put together a cover of the Neil Diamond song 'I'm A Believer and put it on youtube - after this he got a lot of lovely feedback and this started everything off for him!

"He started to come up on stage at my shows and sing a duet with me, and then started to sing at my little open mic nights and slowly got more and more confident with it!

"Then, a year later after months of winding me up by telling me that my job was 'easy' and that 'he could put on his own show anyway if he wanted to', I decided to get him something a little different for his 55th birthday present... Behind his back, I hired Hanger Farm and organised the sound and lighting for him to do his own Neil Diamond show!

"I printed a flyer for him and hid it in his inside pocket of a new coat he also got - and his reaction was priceless! He was, for the first time, a little lost for words!

The night, in aid of Naomi House Children's Hospice, in front of a packed out 150 friends, family and colleagues, was a huge success.

Now, following several gigs at The Concorde Club and local restaurants, Tony is booked in to do it all again at Hanger Farm Arts Centre in Totton.

The gig, on Saturday, will boost the coffers of Headway, the brain injury charity in Totton.

He promises another intimate performance singing the songs of the living legend that is Neil Diamond. Get ready for Ballads of Passion, Melodies with feeling and Foot Tapping tunes of Desire!

Tickets are available from totton.ac.uk or 023 8066 7683.