EIGHT is the number of the moment for 80s pop sensation Nik Kershaw.

Not only does it mark the number of studio albums the singer-songwriter has made, it is also the name of his latest musical offering.

He said: "Eight's not that many albums if you think about it – I've been doing it for 30 years, but I did spend a lot of time not making my own records.

"Really I just sat down about 18 months ago and decided it was time to make another one. I have to do that every now to again to get it out my system."

The album, his first since 2006, is a guitar-driven work with "a little bit of everything".

He said: "It's a bit folky, a bit poppy, a bit rocky, a bit jazzy, whatever you want really.

"I don't sit down with any kind of concept, I've done that in the past and you end up breaking all your own rules, so I don't do that any more.

"The songs are just determined by how they get recorded and that is what they end up sounding like.

"It's a tricky one to have genres. Niches and labels are for marketing people really.

"I'm a marketing-person's nightmare because some of the simplest things, like putting your album on iTunes, makes you put genres on your music and because every song is different you can make people really confused.

"So it's all over the shop, because I've played so many different types of music in my life."

The Bristol-born one-time teen idol, now 54, was responsible for the hits, Wouldn't It Be Good, and I Won't Let the Sun Go Down on Me, from 1984 debut album Human Racing.

Two albums later and the singer retreated from performance to concentrate on songwriting, penning hits for artists such as Cliff Richard, Bonnie Tyler, Lulu, Jason Donovan, The Hollies and Gary Barlow.

In 1998 he returned to writing for himself, releasing the critically acclaimed 15 Minutes, followed by the equally well received To be Frank.

But it's perhaps writing the iconic song, The One and Only, for Chesney Hawkes' which has gained him the most recognition in his long-standing career.

Appearing on the soundtrack for 1991 film Buddy's Song, the hit went to number one in the UK charts and stayed there for five weeks.

Asked if he likes the continuous attention paid to his varied musical past, the songwriter is philosophical.

He said: "I did go through all that, wanting to avoid it.

"When I started my own stuff again in 1998, all people wanted to talk about was what I did during

the 80s and my hair so that was frustrating.

"But I got over it when I realised I had such huge exposure and media attention and that I'm never going to get that kind of attention again and wouldn't want it.

"Most people's point of reference with me will be what happened during that time so, once you accept that, it's not a big deal."

It's not surprising then that this year, alongside new album Ei8ht, came a re-release of his first album Human Racing, which will play a dominant feature of the forthcoming tour.

He said: "Universal own the catalogue and they called me and said they were re-releasing Human Racing and asked if I wanted to be involved.

"I said yes purely from a quality control point of view to make sure it went out right and it sounded good and all that sort of stuff.

"We'll be playing bits of the new album and the entire Human Racing album for one section of the show.

"There's probably going to be a few surprises and some songs people haven't heard in a while."

Unlike, Human Racing, Ei8ht was recorded by Nik's own record company, Shorthouse Records, which is something he has done with his own work since his re-emergence in 1998.

He credits this as coming down to his own "control-freak" tendencies, allowing him to please himself throughout the whole recording process.

He added: "Doing it yourself is a selfish thing to do.

"It's self-indulgent but it has to be, otherwise you'd just be making other people's records for them and there's no point.

"What I find is that if I don't make a record I will have ideas that come to me that just won't leave me alone.

"They'll keep me awake at night and the only way to get rid of them is to record them.

"I do new stuff because I want to do new stuff and I've got new things to express.

"There's a hard-core that will know about that and love it, and there are people who understand that and I'm quite comfortable with that.

"But I'm not trying to preach to the people who just equate me with stuff in the 80s and having said that I'm not ashamed of any of it.

"I kind of think 'well it was released'.

"This time opposed to saying it's just another Nik Kershaw gig, there will be something different about it."

n Nik Kershaw's new album Ei8ht is out now and he will be playing Glasgow ABC on Thursday September 20.

For more information, visit www.nikkershaw.net