Will Young toasts 20 years of stardom since winning telly's Pop Idol

Will was the first winner of the talent show, paving the way for artists including Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Jennifer Hudson, Carly Rae Jepsen and Adam Lambert. He scored the biggest selling single of the noughties with Evergreen/Anything Is Possible, officially the fastest selling debut single of all time in the UK.

Since his victory on Pop Idol, Will has sold more than 10 million records worldwide, including four number one UK albums and eight top three UK albums. His best-known songs will feature in concerts at Sheffield City Hall on October 24 and at Nottingham’s Royal Concert Hall on November 7, 2022.

Will said: “I released a Greatest Hits album this year and I’m going to be performing all of my singles - possibly even in order of their release. It will be a true musical voyage through time.

“I also will have a request section where people in the audience can message in to hear any song from my back catalogue - which is rather daunting as there’s about 140 to choose from. I tried this a couple of years ago, but as more of a Q&;A. I had a website where people could message in and ask questions and I would read them out live on stage from my iPad. This year I thought why not change it to requests for any song from my catalogue. I think it gives fans the opportunity to hear that one song they’ve maybe never heard me sing live before.”

"The main thing I have changed since winning Pop Idol is that I don’t have any electronic programming in my show anymore, so everything you hear is being played live as you hear it.”

Asked about his life on the road, Will said: “I always like to exercise and I make sure I do a lot of stretching. Then I have a routine of always showering before and after and I do my vocal warm-up - and then I get dressed and ready for the show! I always try to remember my mantra which is that this is all about having fun.”

Will is a mental health advocate and fronts a new charity initiative called Wellstock. He said: “Wellstock is about bringing attention and information about mental health. I have partnered with the charity called SHOUT and an initiative called One Night Only to provide one-off unique events where people can donate £10 for a pair of tickets and they are chosen at random. It is a wonderful new democratic way of raising money, allowing artists to do special one-off things and raising funds for much needed causes. SHOUT is a text message service predominantly used by people under 25 who help people in crisis or who just need to talk to someone knowing they are being heard and validated. Most calls are to do with anxiety, depression and often suicidal ideations.”

Tickets for Will’s show in Sheffield are priced from £49.25, go to www.sheffieldcityhall.co.uk. Tickets for Nottingnam cost from £45, go to www.trch.co.uk