HE is known by thousands as the lead singer of 1980s hit ska group The Specials, and he is now looking forward to meeting the people of Tynedale.

Speaking to Sound Check , Neville Staple, who will appear at next month’s Corbridge Festival with his band, said he will take the opportunity to chat to fans at the show.

Armed with the aim to please, Neville said his gigs involve a lot of crowd interaction and he also adds hit songs from The Specials, such as Ghost Town and Too Much Too Young , to his collection of his solo material to please the audience.

He said: “First of all, I just enjoy doing festivals because you get all walks of lives there, and you get people who have never heard ska but then grow to like it.

“I get on with a lot of people and the fans, so I like to mix with everybody rather than keep myself away.

“If people want to come see me and, if possible, say hello, then I will not stop them.

“If somebody tries to talk to me, I will always say hello, even if I’m in a restaurant in the middle of eating, because to me the fans are the people who helped me get to where I am.

“I hope the people of Corbridge are expecting to have a good time as I will be doing old songs and new songs, and I will make it fun by getting the audience involved.”

The Neville Staple Band are just one of the many exciting additions to this year’s Corbridge Festival line-up which returns to Tynedale Park on July 9.

Playing on the main stage, he will provide a good warm-up acts to the headliners, recently reformed rock band The Coral, who are sure to go down a storm with their top 40 singles Dreaming of You and In the Morning .

The biggest name on the schedule is the pioneer of hip hop music, Grandmaster Flash who is flying in from The Bronx, in New York, to play in a small part of the Tyne Valley.

North-East indie group Frankie & The Heartstrings, The Bluetones front man Mark Morris, Too Many T’s and Bessie & The Zinc Buckets will also play the main stage, which will be opened by Hexham bluegrass group The Cherry Pickers and features South Shields singer Cortney Dixon.

Away from the main stage, there will be plenty of talent on the second stage with performances coming from headliner Jonny Boyle, Smooth Jezza, Bre Musiq, Twister, Stretch Bk, Tarkan Basara and Lauren Lowes. Samantha Lavery, a singer with Prudhoe rockers Bitter Sweet Hearts, is on the bill too, along with Kosoti, which features Hexham drummer George Hutton.

The festival will be held over July 8 and July 9, with tickets available at www.corbridge- festival.co.uk.