A 71-YEAR-OLD cancer survivor and musician has built up a cult following - by busking on a drum kit made of bins.

Henry Savage, known as the Tin Binman, has been playing to tourists and shoppers in Glasgow city centre almost three years.

Granddad Henry built the drum kit from scratch himself after the throat cancer he had went into remission.

Henry, from Calton, Glasgow, is a former guitarist with a pub band and used to dabble in some singing. But he has been unable to use his vocal chords after his cancer ordeal.

Now he is out playing drums to tunes such as the Village People's YMCA, the theme from Rocky and a number of hits by US rockers ZZ Top - all while wearing a builder's hard hat.

Henry said: "Busking lifts my spirits. I was a bit down, a bit of a mess before. I couldn't eat, I couldn't speak and I went down to eight stone.

"But when I'm out there looking at people smiling and taking pictures, it just makes me want to jump for joy."

A former painter and decorator and bus driver, Henry bought the different bins from all over the world.

He said: "I bought them on eBay from America, Canada, Birmingham and Glasgow. They're all normal bins, but people think that they are drums.

"There's not another one like it in Glasgow."

He added: "We have to get the drums in a taxi because I had to sell my car when I had cancer. I wasn't allowed to drive because I was on morphine."

Henry last played the drums 40 years ago in a pub band.

He said: "But then I got married and had kids and that was the end of the band."

Henry, who plays at city centre spots including outside the St Enoch Centre, has five sons and five grandchildren.

His youngest son Ryan, 21, helps him out by playing backing music through an iPad. Ryan said: "It is always better when it is sunny, but when it is really busy people just walk by. Other times there is a great big crowd.

"It's great to see dad enjoying himself after everything he's been through. He's a natural born performer."

Asked why he wears a hard hat, Henry explained: "I'm supposed to be a binman. It's also because I want to be utterly different to other buskers. I wanted to stand out. "It doesn't matter if I don't make much money. I just want to make people happy."