Mick Hucknall, the voice, and face, of Simply Red, tells Tim Hughes why he is no longer holding back the years - but instead trying something completely new HIS voice and flowing red locks have marked out Mick Hucknall as one of the best-known names in pop.

For a big chunk of the '80s and '90s, his band Simply Red dominated the charts, and were a constant presence on the radio and in clubland - smoochy anthems like Holding Back the Years being the last dance of choice on the nation's dancefloors.

Their seminal fourth album Stars was a white-soul classic, topping the UK charts for 19 weeks, spawning two Top 10 hits, and becoming the biggest selling album of 1991.

Simply Red may have long since fizzled out, but Mick Hucknall is back - with a new solo album and a tour which hits Oxford's New Theatre on Saturday, July 5.

But if you come expecting a night of nostalgia, with sweet sing-alongs to the likes of Something Got Me Started, Your Mirror, Thrill Me, and Stars, you're going to be disappointed.

That, he insists, was the old Simply Red. And he won't be going anywhere near them. Instead, what you'll get is pure Mick Hucknall.

"This is not Simply Red," says the surprisingly down-to-earth, and utterly likeable, Mancunian, ("I don't do interviews very often," he jokes, "so be gentle!" ) "The audience would be justified in getting what they demand if they were buying a Simply Red ticket, but they're not. This is a Mick Hucknall show and that's why I'm showcasing my brand new music.

"I'm going out with a different name and a different album, and there's nothing to be said. If people are expecting to hear Simply Red, they'll be making a mistake.

"Simply Red has been fantastic, but it's time to move on to something new."

Mick is a more complex figure than many give him credit for. A life-long socialist, he was catapulted into the upper echelons of pop royalty from the dole queue. He has been a life-long follower of the Labour Party, a supporter of grass roots reggae, and, more famously, a champion of ginger rights - after denouncing "bigots" who lampooned his coiffure.

With his high profile, domineering pop presence and well-documented love of an occasional tipple, he has occasionally courted controversy.

"There have been one of two scandals," he says, "but I've never seen myself as tabloid fodder.

"When I lived like a bachelor they tried to catch me - going to a bar and getting hammered once in a while.

"Also, a lot of negativity came from being anti-Thatcher, when most of the media was Thatcherite. I've been happy to withdraw and stop touring anything like the amount I used to. I had my own personal interests and went off on a personal odyssey.

"I gave so much to my work, I was exhausted. I came off the road after my Greatest Hits tour, took stock of everything and went into semi-retirement. I wanted to do my own thing. I developed other interests, and got closer involved with my family and friends.

"I also worked on myself more - as a person, rather than a bloke on a stage.

"I've always been a stranger around the public," he insists. "I've never been comfortable with my persona.

"I was thrown into this from the dole, and within a couple of months, was sharing a stage with Stevie Wonder in Los Angeles. It was a shock to the system."

One of Mick's more notable other interests is wine making. He has a vineyard on his own 18th century Italian estate, where he produces a very good red, called appropriately, Il Cantante (The Singer).

He is reported to have taken to fine wine to curb the excessive drinking of his wilder days. The logic being, that if the stuff is good you savour it more, and drink less of it.

Tellingly, Mick's new tour - his first as a solo artist - follows the end of a long drawn-out dispute with his old label Warner, over control of his back catalogue. The seven-year feud was sparked by the label's decision to release retrospective album It's Only Love, against Mick's wishes.

After months of negotiations he this year won 50 per cent of the rights to his work. But while he did release a digitally re-mastered version of Stars, he has resolutely veered away from the material for which he is best known, and loved.

The concert will showcase new album Tribute to Bobby - a 12-track journey through soul, blues and R&B, in honour of one of his most important inspirations and musical idols - African-American singer Bobby 'Blue' Bland.

Together with such artists as Sam Cooke, Ray Charles and Junior Parker, Bland, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winner, known as the 'Lion of the Blues' developed a sound that mixed gospel with blues and R&B - including big band classic Farther Up The Road, Cry Cry Cry, and I Pity The Fool.

Mick admits it's an "interesting" departure.

"I've been ambitious and this project has reignited that ambition.

"To end Simply Red after 22 hits, and move on, is a dramatic thing do to. But after years of smooth jazz-soul, I was so exhausted that I found myself getting back into this style that predates soul.

"I've been listening to this stuff since I was 14, so it was very easy to move into. And as a 47 year-old man, it's a good time for me to do it.

"This is a new beginning for me. And I'm going to be looking out for other good chal- lenges - maybe recording obscure songs by various artists, but not tributes to anything specific."

And will guests at the New Theatre get to sample one of his own vintage wines in the interval?

"No," he laughs. "I only sell my excess wine in Italy. And I don't have a huge amount of it!"

Mick Hucknall plays the New Theatre, Oxford, on July 5. Tickets are £35 (plus booking fee). Call 0844 888 9991/ 0871 220 0260 or go to www.ticketline.co.uk