CLIVE John has suffered from a stammer all his life since severely burning his hands on an electric fire at the age of two.

But the traumatic experience was to have positive consequences for the singer who stars in The Johnny Cash Road Show, which visits Portsmouth Guild hall on Saturday January 31.

The tour also takes in Christchurch Regent Centre on Thursday March 12.

After years in hospital having skin grafts, the surgeon recommended to his parents Clive learn to play a musical instrument, and he took up the piano to keep his fingers supple.

Clive then progressed on to guitar, as well as piano... and the rest is history!

“This is all I have ever wanted to do ever since I was able to make a noise,” Clive told me.

He has learned to control his stammer most of the time through speech therapy and elocution lessons, but says it will never completely go away.

“After burning my hand I found it very, very difficult to speak and my stammer was really, really bad for years, but I’ve come to terms with it.

"Sometimes I’m fine and sometimes I can’t get a word out and the person on the end of a phone might think I’ve gone away and put the phone down!

"But singing is fine. It use to really bother me and I would do anything to get rid of it but I’ve accepted it now.”

He certainly hasn’t let it stand in his way. Prior to playing The Man in Black he enjoyed success in his own right as a singer-songwriter.

He produced a number of albums – his latest The Spirit was critically-acclaimed by the music industry and was nominated for Best British Country Album.

The single The Spirit was awarded the Hot Disk Track of the Year 2011.

It spent eight weeks at No 1 in the UK in the British/Irish chart and four weeks at No1 in the world chart.

Clive says: “I’ve always prided myself on being true to myself and have always written my own material. I never thought in a million years I’d be a tribute artist – yet here I am...”

Again, it was a traumatic time in his life that was to have positive consequences and result in this celebratory tribute to Johnny Cash.

Clive explains: “Ten years ago I lost my best friend, Chris, to cancer of the brain. Before he died he spent three years travelling with me on the road to almost every gig and was my right hand man/roadie and soul mate.

"Shortly before he became sick he gave me a double album of Johnny Cash’s greatest hits.

"I instantly loved the sound (not knowing much about the country legend before) and he knew I would cover his songs with respect and do it well.

“I thought it would be another ‘recommendation’ of songs that people want to hear. I put this album on repeat in my car and grew to love it more and more.

“After Chris died I put the Johnny Cash thing on the shelf until the movie Walk The Line came out.

“I was so excited after watching the film, and connected with the man and music so much, I just knew deep down that was the way forward for my career.

"It’s now got to the stage that I don’t listen much to anything else other than Johnny Cash!

“The songs, attitude and style are completely right for the style of person/singer/musician I am and to my knowledge there is no other artist that captures what the great man did.

"I have passed up to grade seven on classical guitar and piano and music in the past was mainly about technical ability, but this is more about ‘feel’ and that’s what I love about it.

“Many musicians think Johnny’s music is very basic, but opinions change when they try to play it well – they discover it’s not just ‘boom chika boom!’ So I began the long hard road of getting the show to where it is at now.”

Clive adds: “I hate the word ‘tribute’ artist – it sounds cheesy. I always say the show is a celebration rather than an imitation.”

Widely considered to be one of the most influential American musicians of the 20th century, Johnny Cash is best known as a country icon, but his songs and sound embraced rock and roll, blues, folk, and gospel which gave him a wide appeal from the 1950s to present day.

Audiences can expect a show that covers all of this, accompanied by hundreds of evocative images and video clips taken throughout his lifetime projected on to a big screen.

The show also features the musical partnership Cash enjoyed with his wife June Carter who toured him along with the already famous Carter Family.

All of Cash’s greatest hits are covered in the show including San Quentin, Walk the Line, A Boy Named Sue, Man in Black, Ring of Fire and Hurt.

  • The Johny Cash Road Show visits  Portsmouth Guild hall on Saturday, January 31. The tour also takes in Christchurch Regent Centre on Thursday, March 12.

HILARY PORTER