YORK was denied the chance to see the resurrection of Peter Grant at first hand when the Yorkshire crooner’s March 2 concert at The Duchess fell victim to “scheduling conflict”.

There are no plans to re-arrange the gig, meaning that the closest opportunity to see him perform last autumn’s comeback single, Too Close, and further songs from last month’s self-titled album comes tomorrow night at the Leeds Irish Centre.

Now 24, the Guiseley singer was only 19 when his debut album, New Vintage, reached number eight in the charts in 2006, the year he played the Grand Opera House in York, amid praise from mouths as diverse as Kaiser Chiefs’ Ricky Wilson, broadcaster Sir Michael Parkinson and veteran songwriters Don Black and Tony Hatch.

He starred on home turf in a week of shows with Northern Ballet Theatre and Merrill Osmond in Spirit Of Christmas at the Leeds Grand Theatre, and in 2007, his follow-up album, Traditional, made the Top 30, but the press cuttings in The Press have since dried up.

Where have you been, Peter?

“I’m now in London; I’ve been there about four years now, though I miss my friends up north and the northern mentality,” he says.

Explaining the hiatus between albums number two and three, Peter attributes it to “a lot things”. “One reason was that I’d been working towards that first album from starting to gig at 12. Not that I fought it, but my whole life had been music from a young age; I loved it and I’d wanted it, but the downside was coming out of school to make my first album at 18, and with that comes a lot of work and even more commitment, which I wasn’t used to at that level.

“Having done the albums and the tours that followed, I had had enough of doing covers, even though I idolised the crooners.”

He understood fully the course that his management and record company had set for him and “felt blessed” to be doing what he was doing, but inside there was a songwriter keen to express himself. “Ultimately, they wanted me to keep doing covers, but I’ve always written songs, and I thought, ‘if I don’t do my own thing now, and do it with a passion, when will I be able to do it?’.

“So first of all, I parted with the record label [Universal] towards the end of 2008, though there was a middle man involved, which meant it wasn’t as peaceful as I would have liked,” says Peter.

“I was on a six-album deal there that would have taken me into my early 30s doing covers. If I said I wanted to get a band together to record The Lady Is A Tramp, they would say ‘Cool! Let’s do it’, but if I said I wanted to do my own thing, they would say ‘Cool! Use your own money’.”

Parting was inevitable, and Peter went on to perform gigs in such exotic locations as Cairo and travel in Egypt and India. “I would go around recording musicians playing their instruments and go to the beach and be inspired to write songs,” he says.

“And once I came back from my wacky travels and my partying, I was introduced to Andy Wright at Sphere Studios, which is where I’ve now made my new album.”

Most of it was recorded while he was “sleeping on a floor” (not when singing obviously). “I’ll be very straight with you. After splitting from the label, even though I was gigging in those amazing places, basically the money dried up; I was cleaned out, having previously been very comfortable and having had a great lifestyle, so it was bit of a slap in the face but I didn’t let it get me down,” says Peter.

“I had nowhere to go, so I started sleeping on the floor in Andy’s room at the studio – and it was the best place I’ve ever lived. Chicks loved it! Turning up at this massive building and you have the keys; it’s pretty cool!”

As well as a room at Sphere, Peter has his own flat once more, in Battersea, and an album on his PGM label to promote on tour and two songs, Too Close and Better Days, on the soundtrack of Noel Clarke’s new film, The Knot.

“The album is pop, as in its popular music and contemporary, but the songs are still credible with big, dramatic sounds and classic production,” says Peter.

“My voice is naturally very croony, so it’s also got a jazzy feel to it. There are Arabic influences on there, hip-hop grooves, orchestral sounds – it’s a real mish-mash. Those experiences in Egypt and India definitely shaped the album too. I finally feel like I’ve made the album I’ve always wanted to.”

It has been “quite a journey”, he acknowledges. “I’ve had money; I’ve had no money. I’ve had tours; I’ve had no tours. I’ve had the up and the downs – and they still aren’t going to get rid of me.

“It’s very different from other careers in that what I do is what I live for. Whether I release records or not, I would always do music, going round in a Camper van with a piano, playing across Europe,” says Peter. “I’m a bit of gipsy at heart. I like travelling.”

Tomorrow, those travels lead home to West Yorkshire with a five-piece band. “We’re going to do the whole album, some stuff from my old crooner albums and some contemporary covers,” he says.

Such as? “I know you’ll think this is a bit weird but One Direction do a song called That’s What Makes You Beautiful and I’m the man to do a seriously bluesy interpretation of it!”