BARRY Steele will present his multi-media tribute to The Big O in Roy Orbison And Friends at the Grand Opera House, York, on February 7.

The 7.30pm show will combine Orbison hits from the 1960s through to the late-1980s with original and film footage from those eras, as Steele and his band bring the life, character and music of Orbison back to centre stage.

Steele will be joined by Paul Molloy in the guise of a young Elvis Presley, Boogie Williams as Jerry Lee Lewis and Stars in Their Eyes winner Marc J Robinson as Buddy Holly: the "Friends" in the show's title.

Steele took the first steps on the road to becoming a professional singer on a family holiday in Cornwall in 2001 when his wife Lynne and daughter Leonie entered him into a singing competition without his knowledge. It was there that a fellow competitor said to him, “You know you sound just like Roy Orbison singing Robbie Williams", so with the help of family and friends a tribute to The Big O was born.

"Roy Orbison’s songs not only have wonderful melodies and tunes, the lyrics are some of the most sublime ever written," says Barry. "Not only does the music take you back in time, the songs can make you happy, sad and emotive all at the same time. Orbison is known as a balladeer, but he also recorded and performed rocky and contemporary songs. His songs are quite simply timeless."

Steele has toured New Zealand, Holland, Germany, Austria, Denmark and Ireland in his role as Roy Orbison, all a far cry from his time in the RAF when he was stationed at RAF Waddington, Scampton and RAF Tongeren in Belgium and refuelled Vulcan bombers and The Red Arrows.

On leaving the RAF, he moved back to the West Midlands with his young family and became a long-distance lorry driver. Then came that life-changing family holiday and his career as a Big O tribute act that has taken him to the United States to sing in front of Roy’s son Wesley and perform with Bill Dees, the co writer of many of Orbison's songs.

Tickets for February 7 are on sale on 0844 871 3024 or at atgtickets.com/york