BLAME Barry Steele's wife and daughter, Lynne and Leone. There he was, a truck-driving man on holiday in Cornwall, when his family entered him into a singing competition without his knowledge.

"I was blackmailed!" says Barry. "I was a typical guy, sat in the corner, minding my own business, at this holiday camp at Looe Bay, when the Bluecoats called my name out. Lynne and Leonie had put me up for going up on stage!

"But I was extremely shy, so I took quite a lot of persuading. It took an hour! But eventually I did sing a Robbie Williams song, Angels. I stood there like a plant and just sang but everyone got on their feet at the end and I thought 'Wow!'."

How did you sound, Barry? "Well, several people came up and said I sounded just like Roy Orbison, not Robbie, and that's how this whole adventure started."

Sixteen years on, his adventure brings Barry to the Grand Opera House in York on Saturday with his tribute show Barry Steele & Friends in The Roy Orbison Story.

Barry was "just a truck driver" when the Big O moment changed his route in life. "I'd got my licence when I was in the RAF in 1978, for heavy goods, and after I came out of the RAF in 1988, I delivered goods to a retail company's stores for 13 years. I do miss it now, the driving, but I don't miss the traffic," he says.

Instead of delivering goods, he is now delivering the goods, going on the road for more than 100 shows a year. "It's taken a long time to get it up to that many, and we do go abroad too: New Zealand, Denmark, a couple of times to Sweden."

Barry never looked back from the moment his Robbie number went down so well. "When I came back from our holiday, I couldn't stop talking about how much I'd enjoyed singing that song," he recalls.

York Press:

Barry Steele: "Honoured and privileged"

"I have a younger brother, David, who does amateur dramatics in Redditch, taking lead parts in lots of musicals – he was in the public eye in theatres long before I was and was in Les Miserables in Manchester too – and so I talked to him about what I should do."

Barry downloaded a few Orbison songs to learn; wife Lynne arranged a couple of gigs, performing to people from her workplace. "The first night I was frightened like nothing on Earth, but the shows built my confidence up and I started going into the whole Orbison story, and it's just gone on from there, though we're still pinching ourselves that this is really happening," he says. "I just feel honoured and privileged to be in a position to be doing this show."

The Roy Orbison Story, as its title would suggest, combines the Big O's songs with his life story. "It's amazing how many people don't know the details of Roy's life until they see our show and learn about the sadnesses in his life, as well as his musical legacy, and that's what makes it a good story to put together for a show," says Barry, whose multi-media tribute combines a band on stage with a big screen featuring live streaming, images of Orbison and facts about him.

Barry likes to freshen up the show. "I never knew Mr Orbison's version of You'll Never Walk Alone until The Anthology came out a little while ago, and I thought I've got to put that one in," he says, giving one example.

He can sing like Orbison. talk like Orbison and look like Orbison too, so where does he get his gear? "Charity shops! No, no, I'm only joking," says Barry. My first tassle jacket I've had for 14 years and it's still lasting, but I'm finding it difficult to find somewhere to get it replaced," says Barry. "We use theatrical companies to make the dark clothing and I've had to have the dark glasses prescription-made because I'm terrible without my glasses on. I can't do without them!"

One song will mean more to Barry on Saturday than all the rest. "California Blue is my utmost Roy Orbison song," he says. "It was the first one I learnt."

Barry Steele & Friends present The Roy Orbison Story, Grand Opera House, York, Saturday, 7.30pm. Box office: 0844 871 3024 or at atgtickets.com/york