RESPLENDENT in their white suits and distinctive caps, The Rubettes exploded onto the scene in 1974 with the memorable Sugar Baby Love, which topped the charts for three weeks after entering the charts at number two.

The distinctive falsetto refrain was instantly recognisable, and the band continued to have hit after hit with songs like Tonight, Juke Box Jive, Foe-Dee-O-Dee, You’re The Reason Why and I Can Do It.

The hits continued until 1977 with the band, having decreased in size from a sextet to a quartet, having nine Top Forty successes and a number of critically acclaimed albums.

The band eventually split, but was lured back onto the live circuit by a French promoter in the 90s and have been active ever since.

Of the quartet, three of the band: singer/guitarist Alan Williams, bassist Mick Clarke and drummer John Richardson, are still in the line-up and are joined by their latest recruit Steve Innes Etherington on keyboards.

And for the first time in 40 years, they are undertaking a headline tour of the UK.

The band toured Britain recently as part of the Glitz, Blitz and 70s Hitz Tour with Sweet and Mud 2, which went down a storm.

Alan Williams explains to me why the band hasn’t headlined for so long.

“’Cos the guys are too lazy.” He jokes. “Actually, we didn’t feel that we were popular enough up to now.”

“We do the Glitz package tour every five years or so, but generally we don’t work too often in the UK and strangely we have always been a bigger name on the continent and especially France.”

“After the UK tour, we are doing a 30-date headline tour in France and it usually sells out. Last year, we played the Olympia Theatre in Paris and sold out all 3000 seats, in the UK we’ll be playing five to six hundred seater theatres.”

Alan can still remember the last time the band headlined in Britain.

“It was in the 70s and we had a couple of opening bands with us; there’s no support on this tour though, and one featured a young kid called Mick Wilson. ‘Little Micky’ we called him as he was only 15 and had to have a chaperone with him ‘cos he was so young. They also supported us in Europe. Mick is now the singer with the current line-up of 10CC and is doing a great job. He was also part of Jeff Lynne’s ELO at Hyde Park.”

Of course, in the bands’ career, there have been a few highlights.

“Well, there’s the obvious one of being Number One in the charts, but one thing stands out from later on. I’d been talking to Paul McCartney while we were supporting Wings in 1977. At the time he’d just bought his property on Mull and was thinking of building an airstrip there.”

"He was asking for my thoughts as I was then, and still am, a pilot. He then told me about something that happened to him in France.”

“He was being interviewed by a French reporter and was asked if he knew of The Rubettes. He said ‘yes’ and for the next 20 minutes they talked about us, as we really had massive success there and it’s still the one country where we are recognised wherever we go.”

The first half of their South Coast date, at Ferneham Hall in Fareham on October 1, will be acoustic-based with a few album tracks, stories and anecdotes.

For the second half, they'll don their suits and do all the hits.

Tickets for An Evening With The Rubettes feat. Alan Williams are available from fernehamhall.co.uk or 01329 231942.