WHAT do you've hiccupped out your Buddy Holly for all he's worth?

What do you do when your Peggy Sues and your That'll Be The Days have reached the end of their day?

Easy. You decide to step into the shoes of another music legend. And you decide tonight, you're going to be Paul Simon.

"Well, it's not that straightforward," says a smiling Dean Elliott, who currently stars as the Paul Simon half of the icon Simon and Garfunkel duo, in a stage show homage to the sixties icons.

"For one thing, I didn't know who I would be playing after my stint as Buddy in the west end."

Dean had been playing Buddy Holly for two years in London, and touring around the world.

"One afternoon I realised I wanted to tell another rock n'roll story, in a theatrical setting, and I began to think about possibilities.

"So I went home and went through my CD collection, and realised I had all of the Simon and Garfunkel albums.

"I mentioned it someone from Buddy who; 'What's the story with those two? How did they meet? Were they friends?' And this made me think if people wanted to know about Simon and Garfunkel, there could be a demand for a theatre show."

Dean makes the point his Simon and Garfunkel show, which includes all the great songs such as Homeward Bound and The Boxer, is not a tribute act.

"It's like Buddy in that it tells the story of the lives of these two stars.

"And it includes a backdrop to the times because the Simon and Garfunkel story really is the story of the sixties."

Dean, who lives in Malvern in Worcester (in the same village as violinist Nigel Kennedy), began showbiz life at Paul McCartney performing arts school in Liverpool where he studied straight acting.

"On leaving, one of the first jobs I got came about because I could play guitar so well, and so music took over from there.

"Now, I don't think there is anything that touches people more than live theatre."

However, Dean says he had to learn how to touch people when appearing as icons such as Buddy Holly.

"I didn't realise I wasn't making a real connection until one afternoon when I was appearing as Buddy, and I remembered Buddy's widow Maria Elena was in the audience.

"I'd never met her. I was due to speak to her later. But while on stage I thought of her just as I was about to play the scene in the show in which Buddy is about to get on the plane which crashes.

"Buddy, in his living room, picks up his guitar and begins to play True Love Ways to Maria Elena.

"Now, I'd played that song a thousand times to the actress playing Buddy's wife, and it never really connected with me. But that day, on realising the real Maria was watching me play this . . . well, it hit me like a steam train.

"I realised the poignancy of it all, I knew she was recalling this very moment, this was all so real for her.

"And it made me realise that from this moment on I'd have to re-think how I played the lives of real people."

Later on Dean went to Texas and met Buddy Holly's family.

"You can't ever forget that these legends were living breathing human beings who've left behind family who knew them so well," he says.

Of course, Paul Simon, now in his late seventies, is very much still with us and currently touring with Sting.

But that doesn't mean Dean's responsibility to take his performance entirely seriously is any less.

"You can never pastiche their lives," he says of the legends.

"It would have been easy with Buddy, to put on the glasses and hiccup, and look a bit goofy.

"But that wouldn't be right. And it's the same with Paul Simon. It's all about doing your homework and trying to capture the essence of the person."

What is the essence of Simon he tries to get across?

"What defines Paul Simon is that when he was a child he was desperate to become Elvis Presley.

"He wanted to be a rock n'roller. But the problem was he was very short, and very shy.

"I wanted to get across this was a man whose ambitions were bigger than his physicality.

"This is what makes it such a fantastic journey."

But what of his Garfunkel? How did he find someone with whom his Paul was in perfect harmony?

"We did a nationwide search," he says, smiling. "We looked at potential Arts from all over the UK, including Glasgow.

"But then this amazing thing happened. An actor who lived just down the road from me, Johnny Smart, auditioned and he just blew us away.

"He had long blond hair and permed it looks just right."

Dean adds; "The harmonies we have are great. The backdrop all works. But what audiences will also get is a performance that's true to the real legends."

*The Simon and Garfunkel Story, the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, February 25.