IT ain't worth a thing, if it ain't got that swing, the song goes, and Matt Monro Jnr should know.

The son of ballad crooner Matt Monro swapped life on the professional golf circuit for his own swing-jazz singing career, a move so successful that the Londoner is now on his third British tour.

On Monday he plays York for the first time at the Grand Opera House.

He has always travelled, from virtually day one.

"I was brought up in Ealing in west London. My dad had signed to Capitol Records in 1965 as one of the first artists to sign a million dollar contract, and so we moved to America, but he got homesick and missed his friends, so we came back? though I don't remember any of it as I was only one at the time, " he says.

Matt Jnr lived in Ealing and America in his golfing days, but has now moved to Spain.

"I wouldn't call it a midlife crisis but I'd just got divorced and I was a single man again? and I've not been home for two years, " he says.

"I've played in 11 countries, and people seem to think it's so glamorous to travel the world, but you don't get to see any of the country because, if you're not doing the shows, you're doing TV or interviews, but don't get me wrong, I love it.

"We now have a nine-piece band and two backing singers, and I started out with just backing tracks."

Matt Jnr did plenty of travelling in his days as a professional golfer.

"I turned pro at 16 years old and played on the European tour, " he recalls.

"The two biggest names I played with were Davis Love III and Phil Mickelson? but I quit the day my dad died. I was going to take six months off to arrange things and I didn't realise until he died that 90 per cent of the reason I was playing golf was my dad was following me on the tour, and the best times were when we were playing together.

"I never actually stopped being a professional golfer, and it was the same with the singing: I never meant to start doing it, but I started doing these shows where I would talk about my dad and did some of his songs. One day, when David Jacobs, the Radio 2 presenter, heard a tape of my voice, he couldn't believe it was me, not my dad! I was so raw at the time."

He was calling himself Matthew Monro at the time, but even though he now performs as Matt Monro Jr, his show is no mere impersonation of his father, although his pride is apparent from the title of his new album, If He Could See Me Now.

"I'm trying to go my own way without alienating my dad's fans, and it really isn't easy as I have people who follow me because I'm his son, " says Matt Jnr.

He gives an example: "I'll be flying to the Philippines to play there from December 3 to 22 and we're looking to stretch it to January 3 because of the response. So it's the biggest country of support for me, and it was for my dad too. For them, Sinatra didn't exist; it was always Matt Monro."

  • An Evening With Matt Monro Jnr, Grand Opera House, York, Monday, 7.30pm. Box office: 0870 606 3595.