Staples still has that special quality

"Someone asked me recently for a comment on Top Of The Pops being moved to BBC 2. I was like: ‘It’s crap now, what’s on it?’ It’s all these manufactured bands and it’s all about dancing and fashion shows - especially the girl bands. Where’s the real music?

"In the USA music is more fun to watch, they’re real bands and that’s why UK bands don’t do well over there."

If anyone should know it’s Staples. He has worked with rock’s most famous, including Elvis Costello, David Byrne and Ali Campbell; was lead singer with renowned ska outfit The Specials in the 70s and a founding member of the chart-topping Fun Boy Three in the 80s.

Having lived in the States for the last ten years, Staples is back in the UK touring to promote his first solo album, The Rude Boy Returns, 25 years after he first shot to fame with Coventry’s most successful pop group.

The tour brings Staples back top the Capital tomorrow when - with his band Neville Staple - the 48-year-old is due to play The Citrus Club.

But while Staples raves about his love for touring, stressing how good it is to be back on tour in the UK, he is quick to point out that he is now entertaining his most critical fan base, the British public.

"I’ve always been touring - I was doing America up until a year and a half ago, before I returned to the UK to finish my album, start a record label called Rude Boy Music and start my UK tour.

"I’m excited to be back and the response so far has been good - even though I’m only on the second day of my tour. But, here it’s a different crowd from the US. Americans approve of what I’m doing, what I’ve done. In the UK, some people expect The Specials. Of course, I’m no longer that."

Staples pauses, before adding resolutely: "You know why touring is good for me? Because the crowd here in this country can finally hear my songs. The response has been good. It’s worth doing, just for that.

"I actually did a concert in Cambridge where the audience was full of people of all ages. There were kids singing along and I thought to myself: ‘How come all these kids know all the bloody words to the songs?’ It was great - it makes it all worthwhile."

So, will Edinburgh be a difficult audience to crack? "Edinburgh is going to be great. I was there during the MTV awards and performed at Ocean Terminal, the response was fantastic, so I’m looking forward to coming back.

"Edinburgh is a good city to perform in because audiences appreciate the music. You don’t wait to be impressed like audiences in London. You just let go and enjoy it. I’m never worried when I perform in Scotland."

It is fascinating to learn that such a veteran musician still finds his first love intimidating on occasion. But Staples’ enthusiasm for his profession means that he doesn’t take his career for granted.

"It’s because I still get a buzz out of it," he explains simply, "and I don’t feel like a veteran at all. I still feel like a strapping 16-year-old, jumping around all the time. I just love music and I still feel young in the industry - that is until someone says I’m a veteran."

However, with 25 years under his belt, there’s no disputing the fact that Staples is a master of the music industry. His story is almost the musical equivalent of rags to riches - from roadie to pop star.

When the young Staples was hired to hump speakers for the ska-influenced band The Coventry Automatics - later The Specials - in 1977, it wasn’t long before his deep baritone voice got him noticed and he found himself sharing the limelight up front with Terry Hall.

A short time later their Top Ten hit A Message To You, Rudi shot Staples, Hall and The Specials into the vanguard of what became the 2-Tone movement which spawned the likes of Madness, The Beat and The Selecter.

By 1980 The Specials were at their peak, hitting the No 1 spot for the first time with Too Much Too Young and again a year later with the inner-city riot inspired Ghost Town.

The Specials split that same year when, according to Staples, the band were "with each other 24-7", and had been "working too hard and were on top of each other".

However, that didn’t prevent Staples, Hall and Golding from going on to form Fun Boy Three. Cue an image overhaul with highly stylised results and a huge fan base and backing singers who later charted in their own right as Bananarama.

"That was a great time," reminisces Staples, "but after the second album we just went our separate ways."

Fun Boy Three finished. Staples continued. With Rankin Roger of The Beat he formed Special Beat and together they toured the US supporting Sting and Steel Pulse before setting off on their own headline tour. In short, Staples has never really stopped. "It sounds as if it’s been a hectic 25 years but it’s not really," he says.

"I wish it had been, I love being busy and touring and would do more and more if I could. But I suppose I have done well when you think of some musicians who are over in a year or two. I’m most proud of my time with The Specials.

"I would have been one of the over-in-a-year acts if it hadn’t of been for the US, who accepted me and my music. America saved me, in the UK I was a has-been."

It’s a tag he hopes to lay to rest once and for tomorrow night.

He says: "This is the first album I’ve done by myself and it’s my own style, lots of reggae with some rock. People have heard The Specials, now it’s their chance to hear my own music."

Neville Staple, Citrus Club, Grindlay Street, tomorrow, 8.30pm, 10, 0131-622 7086