It is 30 years since rock and roll singer Shakin’ Stevens first entered the charts with his first ever hit. Decades on and Stevens is hitting the road to perform his back catalogue of hits to fans up and down the country.

He will be on stage at the Civic Hall in Wolverhampton tonight (Friday, November 25, 2011).

Stevens was born in Ely, Wales, in 1948. He holds the accolade of being the UK’s biggest-selling singles artist of the 1980s.

His recording and performing career began in the late 1960s, although it was not until 1980 that he saw commercial success in his native land. In the UK alone, Stevens has charted no fewer than 33 top 40 hit singles in the sales charts.

As a teenager in the mid 1960s he formed his first amateur rock and roll band with school friends and became its vocalist and frontman.

Originally named The Olympics, then The Cossacks, the short-lived band finally renamed themselves The Denims and performed gigs in the local Cardiff and South Wales area. He began his professional performing career during 1968, fronting Shakin’ Stevens and the Sunsets.

He scored his first UK chart topping number one with This Ole House and would follow up with 10 more songs reaching the top five, including three number one hits with Green Door, Oh Julie and Merry Christmas Everyone, while You Drive Me Crazy and A Love Worth Waiting For reached number two in 1981 and 1984 respectively.

Speaking about his heyday during the 80s, he says: “I did feel a bit of an outsider in the 80s. But there was a market for me out there. New Romantics were totally different.

“I came out of the punk era in the late 70s. There were the Stray Cats, Matchbox and myself. I was able to hang on and it makes you think how I fitted in with your Spandau Ballets and Kraftwerk.”

Stevens embarked on his 30th Anniversary Tour despite suffering a heart attack in July 2010.

He collapsed at his home in Windsor as a result of exhaustion brought on by the stress of working on a new album and was hospitalised for two months but has battled back to health for the anniversary tour.

He said: “There are certain things you can’t do at my age. I’ve got to be careful. But I know I’ve got a lot of music left in me.”

Tickets for Shakin Stevens – 30th Anniversary Tour are £23.50. Doors open at 7pm. For more details go to www.wolvescivic.co.uk or call 0870 3207000.