RAY Quinn, singer, songwriter, actor, 2006 X Factor runner-up and Dancing On Ice winner, was asked at only two weeks’ notice to join the touring cast of Judy – The Songbook Of Judy Garland.

“I got a call off the director shortly before they started rehearsals to ask if I wanted to do it – and I was all over it as I loved Judy, Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire and all that old-school world of film musicals,” says Ray, who joined Judy’s daughter Lorna Luft, West End actress and Wicked star Louise Dearman and The Boyfriends dance troupe on the road from last Friday.

“When I was a kid, with my mum and dad, they’d play Judy’s songs, so I grew up with that music and fell in love with it. When my nan was alive, it was her wish that I’d do Gene Kelly’s Singin’ In The Rain, and so she’ll be looking down from above as I do this song-and-dance show.”

Ray, Lorna, Louise and co will be in York from Thursday to Saturday, playing the Grand Opera House in the British premiere of the only Garland show authorised by the Judy Garland Estate.

“I said ‘yes’ straightaway to doing the tour as the whole show is based around Judy, her songs, her story, her legacy,” says Ray.

“We’re celebrating Judy’s life and what she achieved, taking a journey through her songs, and we’ll be showing film clips and interviews that have never been shown before. It’s my first time working with Lorna and we have a fantastic array of singers and dancers too.”

Another name leaps out from the show’s production team: creative director Arlene Phillips, the British choreographer. “I’ve worked with Arlene before. I did Grease with her in the West End and she head-hunted me for this new role,” says Ray.

“It was her suggestion to the director that I should be in the show. I adore Arlene; she’s such a lovely woman, I really respect her achievements in the industry and to be working with her again is fantastic.”

The show will feature such songs as Over The Rainbow, I Got Rhythm, Get Happy, Zing! Went The Strings Of My Heart, Easter Parade and The Trolley Song.

“It’s a huge spectacular, all black and white, like Sin City, and sharp and cool, and Judy is very much part of the show. That was brief from the beginning; that she will be the leading lady, and through the show you realise what a wonderful person she was.”

Ray, who topped the charts with his debut album, Doing It My Way, is now making a new record.

“The first one sold 350,000 copies and went platinum, and nine years on I’m back in the studio recording original songs that I’m co-writing, working with six of us involved,” he says.

“We have to write a few more tracks and hopefully I’ll have a single out later this year and the album out next year on my own label.”

Meanwhile, tickets for Thursday to Saturday’s 7.30pm performances and 2.30pm Saturday matinee are on sale on 0844 871 3024 or at atgtickets.com/york.