People's tenor sings for heroes

Yet the street performing tenor, who can regularly be spotted singing across Glasgow, finally cracked when confronted with a sight his contemporaries are unlikely to encounter.

He recalled: "I was singing Nessun Dorma during one of my street shows and this drunk wandered up and started trying to conduct me. I got halfway through and just lost it laughing. But when you are out there you get to meet new people every day, and I don't think I could do the same thing every day - when I worked in the printing industry I was so bored of it."

As the story might suggest, John Innes, 44, is a rather unconventional tenor. Since 1997 he has performed extensively on streets across Britain, bellowing out songs to startled shoppers and winning fans in the process.

Last year, he tackled his biggest challenge by performing indoors at the Royal Concert Hall. He sold it out, a feat many other acts have failed to manage. He is returning on Friday, with an added incentive - to raise money for the injured war veterans' charity Help For Heroes.

It is a cause close to John's heart because he was a member of the Royal Scots Marching Band before he chose to try his luck singing.

But matters were kept in the family, as his brother, Moray, replaced him in the band, and continues to play with it.

Moray, who is the older brother by a year and also specialises in performing as a Frank Sinatra tribute act, picks up the story.

"John told me six months ago he was going to take on the Concert Hall again and there seemed to be too many similarities (with the military band) for us not to do it,"

he says.

"So we thought we would get the Royal Scots Band on board and give something back. A lot of the guys in the band have been to the Gulf, they have been to conflict - we were out in the desert for six months and saw the devastation war causes.

"So we had to run it past my boss and he thought it was a great idea.He said if he could cut through the red tape he would do it. It should be a fantastic evening."

The brothers are clearly musically close, and gave a suave My Way duet at last year's performance, a number they will be returning to this year.

The evening also promises a sprinkling of military anthems, such as Here's To The Heroes; various established tenor classics, such as Time To Say Goodbye, that will see John pay tribute to his heroes such as Mario Lanza and Pavarotti; and quality support acts, in the shape of the soprano Rebecca Newman.

The Concert Hall is certainly different from John's street shows, where he simply sets up and starts to sing, a routine that has seen him dubbed 'The People's Tenor'.

He decided to start performing partly out of desperation because he needed the money after moving to London.

John says: "I started singing in the streets about 1997. I had joined an opera course at a college, and after a while the money ran out.

"So that is when I thought I could get money from the singing, and learn about singing at the same time."

"It was tough at first.

I remember being down to about £20 and calling a shopping centre in Basildon to see if I could do a performance. They said I could and I was able to perform there, make a bit of money and it paid my rent.

"You're at the mercy of the elements when you do this and if you get a run of bad weather it can play havoc with everything."

His brother, however, can't resist bringing up a mention of an earlier time, when it was decided John could not cut it.

Moray says: "His first musical experience was auditioning for the choir when he was 12. They didn't think he was good enough and he failed the audition! His last-ditch attempt was to grab a baritone sax, which was the only instrument left, and play that."

That began the path that led to the Royal Scots and then his singing career, where he has recently found himself in demand singing at sports events, while his charity CD featured the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra.

A UK tour is in the planning stages, but John will seemingly always retain a love for hitting the streets and singing his heart out.

He said: "I've sung at the Millennium Stadium with Katherine Jenkins, and I've sung before 74,000 people (at Old Trafford). Some people, when they see me singing in the streets ask me why I'm still singing there. But I just like doing it - if the public don't like you, they let you know about it! Every day is like a blank canvas.

"It shows you can rise in the arts if you just go out there and do it. You don't need the likes of Simon Cowell to prop you up - you can do it on your own if you believe in yourself." Royal Concert Hall, Friday, £22.50, £17, £13.