The day the music died was when it started for Sunjay Brain.

To be precise a television programme about the plane crash that killed, among others, Buddy Holly.

Sunjay says: “My dad sings and plays, so music has been all around me when I was younger but I do remember watching that programme and listening to Buddy Holly’s songs. That I think was the gateway for me.”

Immersing himself in everything Holly, as well as Elvis and other singers of the era, Sunjay started on a path that eventually led him to perform as his idol in the touring stage show Buddy Holly and The Cricketers.

“I realised instinctively,” he continues, “that the kind of music I was into when I was growing up was very different to the music other people my age liked.

“So it was pretty unlikely I was ever going to form a band mainly because everyone else was into different stuff.”

And when it comes to his current style, Sunjay continues to defy the stereotypes as the antithesis of your typical denim clad dishevelled folk and blues musician with his perfectly groomed hair and spotlessly shining winkle picker boots.

However when he starts to play, he transports audiences to a world where blues and country music are synonymous with humid mangrove swamps and Chicago dive bars.

It all began when we was nominated for a BBC Young Folk Award back in 2012.

“I got airplay,” he continues, “and then got some gigs off the back of that. I’ve taken a break from gigging for a while what with the show and recording but I’m looking forward to be back on the stage touring.”

The West Midlands performer, starts his forthcoming ten-date tour on Monday, February 5, with a visit to the Colchester Folk Club held at the town’s arts centre. With support from the Hardy Perennials, doors open at 7.45pm. Tickets priced £11 and £10, available from 01206 500900.