JOOLS Holland and guest singer Marc Almond will be touring together this autumn and winter with Jools' Rhythm & Blues Orchestra, playing York Barbican on November 16 and Leeds First Direct Arena on December 14.

In between they will release their collaborative album, A Lovely Life To Live, on November 23 through Warner Music Entertainment on CD and digital formats, preceded by this month's single, the title track.

This album has been more than ten years in the making, the former Squeeze boogie-woogie pianist and Soft Cell singer Almond having toured together periodically since 2006. The 14 tracks combine original songs by Holland and Almond with big-band interpretations of Soft Cell’s number one hit Tainted Love, Edith Piaf’s Hymne À L’amour, Irving Berlin’s How Deep Is The Ocean and a brace of Bobby “Blue” Bland songs, It’s My Life Baby and I’ll Take Care Of You.

Holland and Almond worked collaboratively to write the majority of the record, not least a trio of songs inspired by the pair’s adoration for London and relationship with the Big Smoke, namely I Lost My City, Workhouse Blues and London You Were My Lover.

York Press:

Jools Holland and Marc Almond on the streets of London. Picture: Mary McCartney

Holland says: "Over the last few years, Marc has toured with my orchestra, giving amazing performances. I’m so delighted that we’ve now been given the opportunity to capture this on record. It brings out, I hope, what is the best of both of us."

Almond, who waved goodbye to Soft Cell with a farewell concert at London's O2 Arena on September 30, says of his new creative partnership: "If this record were to be a movie, it’d be a black and white movie of the late Fifties or Sixties, set in London and starring Dirk Bogarde, with maybe a brief visit to Paris, where we’d meet [Catherine] Deneuve and [Alain] Delon in a smoky bar.

"Jools and I have a performing history that stretches back many years now and at last we can bring our joint love of Bogarde, London, vintage cars, afternoon tea and the blues to a record. With Jools and the Rhythm & Blues Orchestra, it’s always a lovely life."

The full track listing is: Gipsy Rover; A Lovely Life To Live; It’s My Life Baby; I Lost My City; Workhouse Blues; London You Were My  Lover; Hymne À L’Amour; Dirk Bogarde And Me (Take Tea); On My Soul; Big Black Mercedes 600; How Deep Is The Ocean; Tainted Love; I’ll Take Care Of You and When The Saints Go Marching In.

Tickets for York are on sale on 0844 854 2757 or at yorkbarbican.co.uk; Leeds, 0844 248 1585.