IN the halcyon days of the 1960s Ricky Valance achieved nationwide success with the Number One single 'Tell Laura I Love Her', becoming the first Welsh man to score such a hit. EMMA MACKINTOSH met the singer to uncover his Monmouthshire roots.

I AM a born singer, it's the only thing I ever wanted to do.

I was born in Ynysddu in 1939, in the Sirhowy Valley, Monmouthshire where I grew up. I was the eldest of seven, the only singer apart from my mother who I inherited my voice from. She was a wonderful singer but she wasn't allowed to go professional.

I went to Ynysddu Secondary Modern and was in the church choir at St Theodore's, aged 10, where I was the lead soprano for two years. I don't read music but I have perfect pitch, so I know exactly what key I'm in.

I worked in the mines when I was 15, at Nine Mile Point just the other side of Cwmfelinfach, and at Wyllie, for just over a year. After that I was fed up of spitting dust everywhere. It was all there was to do. I worked in factories and dug ditches for a while, it was a very uncertain time for me, because I just wanted to be a singer.

I joined the Air Force when I was 17 in 1956, and it was the best thing I ever did in my life. It taught me a trade. I didn't have one and I was pushed from pillar to post. One day a sergeant said, "I think you can do a lot better than this", and I went into the office. I prefer the open air, but within three months I had gained my Leading Aircraftsman flashes, and was stationed at Pembroke Dock, then in Malta, where I met my wife.

I spent a year there. They were trying to make me into a corporal, but I wasn't interested. I was granted compassionate leave because my dad was unwell, and I decided I wanted to get married. At the age of 18 we needed a special licence, which we got. I went back and they thought I had taken them for a ride so they posted me to the North African desert, to Tripoli, in the midst of the Suez crisis.

While I was in Malta I did manage to sing, with the Phoenicia Ballroom Orchestra. It was there that I found out I was a tenor. I studied with a Maestro Cazzapinto then got posted to North Africa where I couldn't sing.

I did my last year in the Air Force and came back to Wales where I decided the only way to get on would be to go to London. I worked in the clubs in the north, performing in Doncaster, Barnsley and Wakefield. It was 1957 or 1958 and clubs were big then, like small theatres with a big stage. It is a great training ground for artists which is now gone.

I was doing a cabaret voice, singing standards like Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. Back then I was David Spencer, Ricky Valance is my professional name.

After that I started going out on tour with people who were in the charts, people like Jonny Kid and the Pirates, the Ted Heath Orchestra, and Dave Berry and the Cruisers. Sometimes I topped the bill. I signed with Columbia and was with them for two years.

My recording manager, Norrie Paramour - who was also Cliff Richard's recording manager - found a song which he thought would be right for me, which was 'Tell Laura I Love Her'.

It sold 15,000 advance copies in the first week and was banned by the BBC because of the content concerning death, but that only made it more popular.

It knocked Apache off the top spot and stayed at Number One for three weeks, and 16 weeks in the charts overall. It sold more than a million copies in 1960.

I appeared on 'Oh Boy' and 'Thank Your Lucky Stars' and came third in the Eurovision Song Contest British heats in 1962.

Years of touring and releasing singles followed. In 1982 I went to America and in 1989 I was invited to Nashville where I appeared on a TV programme called 'Nashville Now', which was broadcast live to 70 million people. I didn't know it was going to be live, I thought it was being recorded. Once you've done that you can do anything. It was mind boggling and I was quite nervous. I played two songs including 'Tell Laura'.

Ten years ago I recorded an album in Nashville. When I told people I'm from Wales they said, "I understand Tom Jones is from there," and I said "yes". He does his thing and I do mine. He had more exposure and I didn't, but that's the way the cookie crumbles. A lot more people are finding out about me now. It's not all about one song, I wouldn't spend 52 years as a recording artist relying on one song.

I've had three Top 50 singles and when I perform I play songs like 'My Best Friend' and 'Tell Laura', as well as 'Fireside Dreams', not rock and roll as such but up-tempo country. Rather than indulge myself I play what people want to hear.

My wife and I have been married for more than 50 years. I do everything for my family, as much as I can. We go back and forth to Spain but we spend more time here now. We may come back to Wales.