THE Beatles were the biggest selling artists in the UK in the Sixties, Elton John had the Seventies, but Shakin’ Stevens had the Eighties.

“What can I say, it’s there in the history books,” he says very modestly. “It’s great to have achievements like that, but I don’t think about them very often.”

Shakin’ Stevens is celebrating 30 years since his first UK hit Hot Dog, with an upcoming UK tour. The tour includes a February 11 date at the Ipswich Corn Exchange.

He says: “This is my first UK tour for a while, but I still do gigs all over the world.

“I’m really looking forward to it. We have a ten-piece band and we’ll be doing some of the hits, some of the album tracks and a few surprises.

“It’s not easy going through the decades to pick out those songs and I wanted to do a few I hadn’t recorded before.

“We’ve tried out the show already and it went very well, so I think people will like it.”

Shaky, 62, has been plying his rock trade since he was a teenager growing up in Cardiff.

“Like a lot of people I started singing at school,” Shaky says. “A whole bunch of us kids started a band and we began playing village and church halls. We got a van and did the valleys, and after that a university tour.”

But it wasn’t until 1976, when Shaky got a part in a West End musical about Elvis, that he got his big break.

He explains: “I did the musical for 19 months, but just before that I was approached by two guys who signed me to CBS Records, which then became Sony BMG.

“The first hit was a cover of the Buck Owens song, Hot Dog.”

That was 1980 and for the next seven years he had chart hit after chart hit, including such number ones as This Ole House, Oh Julie, Merry Christmas Everyone and Green Door.

In recent years, Shaky has built up a cult following among celebrities, with fans listed as Matt Lucas and David Walliams, who wanted Shaky to appear in the first series of Little Britain, Peter Kay, John Simm, Rob Brydon and Natasha Kaplinsky.

In 2008, he appeared at the Glastonbury Festival in front of the biggest crowd ever seen for a Saturday main stage opener.

He adds: “I think a lot of people still think of me as the Shakin’ Stevens on Top of the Pops, but when they see me perform they see a different musician and I think are pleasantly surprised by that.”

l Shakin’ Stevens 30th Anniversary Tour is at the Ipswich Corn Exchange on February 11. Call 01473 433100 for tickets.