BEN Bowman was just eight years old when he saw music legend Michael Jackson live in concert.

Already a devoted fan, the experience was to seal his fate as he embarked on a life-long career as a tribute artist to the star.

Some 23 years later Ben is in demand all over the world for his show 'Jackson Live in Concert' featuring totally live vocal performances and brilliant dance performance which many have hailed the most accurate and exciting tribute to the King of Pop to have ever toured UK theatres.

Now in its eighth year of touring, this concert show sees long-time fan Ben recreate the Michael Jackson experience with his stunning rendition of all his favourite songs, including Thriller, Beat it and Billie Jean to name but three!

Ben and his live band and dancers will be at Kings Theatre, Portsmouth on Friday January 20.

Michael Jackson will always be remembered as one of the most influential artists of all time. With a career spanning nearly five decades, he remains at the forefront of music.

Ben has been touring this show for eight years and impersonating Jackson for 11 years and is the first to admit that he has an obsession with the entertainer who died in 2009 shortly before he was due to return to the UK for his 50-date 'This Is It' concert run.

"I grew up with his music. We didn't have much money so I would just listen to my mum's records and I played them to death!Mum said if he ever comes to the UK I will take you to see him and so we went to see him on the Dangerous Tour at Wembley Stadium in 1993 when I was eight.

It's been a life-long obsession;I never remember a time when I have not been obsessed with his music. I listen to his music every day. I listen for things I never saw before. You need to do that to do this job. It's amazing how you listen to a track and you will think I'm not doing it like that as you create your own habits.

"I've seen a lot of concerts and he's the best by far. He was just incredible. He was never as vocally accurate on stage as in the recording studio but it was just the showmanship - he was on a different planet as a performer."

As a teenager with his confidence steadily growing Ben finally realised he could make a living as a tribute act rather than as an actor.

"I always wanted to be in entertainment on stage. When I was 16/17 I was in college at Canterbury doing a drama course and I was in a business lesson where they told us you can earn £70 a night in the West End. I just thought I could earn more than that doing my tribute act and my friends encouraged me to go for it. I started hiring halls and three years in it became full time doing pubs, clubs and weddings. I was working the first two years for nothing as I was paying back my loan. It cost me £10,000 to buy all the equipment and costumes I needed to take the plunge."

Ben remembers being horrified by the news of Michael Jackson's death but ironically it boosted his career even further:

"It was my night off. I was at a local bar with friends and I had a gig the next day and my agent called me and then my brother. I was gobsmacked, especially as he was meant to be coming back to tour the UK and then I was inundated with bookings from that point. I would do five or six performances in one day! I'd start about 12 noon ( sometimes earlier) and do my final show about 3am, going on until 4/5am. It stayed crazy like that until about the middle or end of 2010."

Now he feels he is very much helping keep Michael Jackson's memory alive:"It is making my job a lot more meaningful . It's something that has to be done and I'd like to do it for as long as I can."

These days Ben performs all over the world, from Hong Kong to Dubai and Europe. In February he returns to Holland where he says he has his biggest fans:

"Holland is always a rowdy crowd . They absolutely love the music and get drunk and dance and sing. I 'll sit in the dressing room there and they bring in a tray of drinks before the show wanting to start the party!"

Asked how he manages to look so like Michael Jackson Ben says it is no mean feat.

"I've done nothing surgically. I spend an hour and a half doing the makeup, getting the contours of his face, shrinking my nose and making my jaw look bigger . I'm often asked if I use prosthetics but it's just make-up . I learned how to do it from a make-up artist ."

That sounds very tedious but Ben says: "It all goes with the territory. It's gruelling but I've learnt to enjoy it. And after doing all that I have to warm up my body and voice. The whole prep before a show takes two hours.

You have to be so accurate as the fans are so picky. You can't do it half-hearted. You can't even have a sock out of place. I wear a ruffled sparkly leg warmer for one song and a guy in the band has to check it's positioned exactly right on my ankle. Image is just as important as the vocals as Michael Jackson was so visual. If you say 'Smooth Criminal', for example, you instantly picture him in that white suit. I've spent up to £500 on just one jacket as I have to get everything just right."

The demand for Ben's show's remains extremely high : "I've a hundred bookings in the diary for this year already. It's pretty insane; the first leg is 40-odd dates. I have to look after myself and do what real rock stars do ... I just sleep after a show! I take supplements and exercise by going to the gym. I eat three meals a day and drink lots of water. On a gig day I drink three or four litres of water before I even go on stage. Too many people make the mistake of drinking water when they are actually on stage but that does nothing. If you drink lots of water before it naturally lubricates the vocal chords. "