AC/DC singer Brian Johnson on the highway to Melrose

Published on Saturday 14 November 2009 19:08

HE IS one of the world's most famous rockers, who has made millions from screeching about women and whisky on his way down the Highway To Hell.

But in his quieter moments, Brian Johnson likes nothing better than pulling down his iconic flat cap and going for a drive along the A68 to Melrose.

The lead singer with AC/DC has told Scotland on Sunday how he enjoys visiting the Borders and further afield whenever back in the UK visiting his friends and family.

"I love driving about up there," he said. "I used to go up a lot to Loch Lomond and Loch Ness, but you know my favourite place now? Melrose in the Borders. Driving around there is fabulous, it's beautiful."

The singer dismissed recent speculation that he intends to retire at the end of AC/DC's current world tour, but stressed he will hang up his microphone come the day he is unable to perform for a whole show.

"I'm 62, but I have to sing like I was 32," he said. "People have been talking about it, but it's not me that wants to retire. I'll go as long as I keep going, but I only have one gear as a singer. I don't want to break down in the middle of a set, or only perform for half the show."

For the first time, Johnson revealed how he nearly shunned the audition for a group that would go on to sell more than 200 million albums.

"I only went because I had other work lined up in London, a Hoover advert jingle," he recalled. "That ad got me 350, the most money I'd had in one go in my life."

He also warmly recalled the band's concert at Glasgow's Hampden stadium this summer, affirming that the "Hampden Roar" is "no myth".

"I swear to God, the hairs on the back of my arms stood up, and my old ticker was twitching like a rabbit's nose," he joked.

Next year will mark three decades since Johnson became AC/DC's frontman following the death of Bon Scott, who was originally from Kirriemuir.

"It's brilliant that people remember Bon 30 years on," Johnson said. "I met him once and he was one of those cool souls."

Two of the original band members, Angus and Malcolm Young, were also born in Scotland.