RUSSELL Watson's days of wild nights, parties and hungover Sundays are long gone.

We are on the phone discussing the merits of a day of sporadic downpours and the benefits to the garden.

"That's the type of thing I talk about now," he tells me.

"It's important to me how the lawns are doing and it's something I talk about.

"Back in my 20s it was all about football scores, what I was doing at the weekend.

"Now I'm talking about feeding my lawns, hose pipe bans and house prices!"

Less than a minute into our conversation it's clear to that Russell is just 'a normal bloke' who happens to have sold seven million records.

For the 48-year-old Salford tenor, real happiness comes from lounging in the garden with his two dogs and his family. He is preparing to marry his girlfriend this summer.

"I love being around the house doing a bit of gardening, kicking the football around and watching the greyhound belt off and the little Shih Tzu chasing after its tail."

One of the first artists from the 'classical crossover' phenomenon that also brought us Charlotte Church, former bolt-cutter Russell shot to fame 15 years ago after winning a local radio talent competition.

He has sung at numerous prestigious events, the next of which will see him performing at the National Memorial Day concert in Washington DC on Sunday. Other artists on the bill are fellow Brit Katherine Jenkins and Gloria Estefan.

And the day after he will fly home to resume his Up Close and Personal tour, taking him to Lighthouse, Poole's Centre for the Arts, on June 3 and Weymouth Pavilion on June 13.

Russell said: "It's quite made. One moment I'm going to be meeting with President Obama and singing in front of 300,000 people and a television audience of 13 million people.

"The next I'm coming back through the door at night and the dogs are the first to greet me.

"The greyhound was a stray and developed a liking for cheese.

"He'd rather have a piece of cheese than a steak. I think we're the Wallace and Gromit of Cheshire.

"That's a typical thing for me - come back from a concert, the dogs waiting for me and the Shih Tzu trailing after the greyhound while it's jumping up and down and I'm feeding it cheese. It's a little routine."

Russell tells me he has never been to Weymouth before and is excited to be performing here for the first time.

His effervescent sense of humour shines through as Russell launches into his best 'nan voice' to tell me his reasons for taking the tour to new, smaller venues.

"This one actually came from my nan, who passed away a couple of years ago.

"A few years ago I was playing in Manchester city centre.

(And this is where Russell segues into a shaky, wizened 'nan voice.')

"My nan said: 'It's difficult for some of my friends to come.

'They have to get two buses into Manchester, the number 67 then the number 10.

'It's very hard for some of the older ones'.

"And that was where I thought 'my nan's got a point'. That's why we're taking the show all over. It's been a bigger success than I could ever have imagined.

"We've sold more than 55,000 tickets. I haven't done that kind of business for a long time.

"I like the vibe of doing these types of venues. You feel like you have a closer link with the audience."

Russell has been further endearing himself to the local venues by selecting community choirs to sing with him on stage.

At Weymouth Pavilion it will be the local Rock Choir while in Poole it will be the Rising Voices Wessex Choir, which supports people living with and beyond cancer.

Russell said: "I wanted to have that feel of the crowds seeing their family and friends on stage, it has a really good feel to it.

"There's a real smiling, happy feelgood factor."

And that's something that Russell welcomes. He's had his dark days and is often written about as 'the singer who survived two brain tumours'. For those who don't know, he suffered two brain tumours that nearly killed him.

I ask him if he gets frustrated with the constant 'brain tumour' association.

"It was nearly eight years ago since I was ill.

"It was a long time ago and I will live with that and everything that goes with it until the end of my days.

"I want to try and so something with each day and it's as important as the next.

"It was a period of my life that was very difficult and dark and it took a long time to come through that feeling of being a victim.

"I was starting to feel like I was being defined by the fact that I had suffered a serious illness rather than being defined as a singer.

"I think that in the last couple of years I've started to transcend that, which is nice, and I'm being viewed more as a survivor than a victim."

It is this positive attitude, along with his quick sense of humour, chattiness and self-deprecation which has endeared Russell to the Great British public and earned him the moniker 'the people's tenor'.

He speaks warmly of the many charities he is patron of, telling me: "I think when you have had a bit of a struggle yourself it gives you a greater insight into the toils of other people."

As his publicist told me, Russell has time for everyone with his plucked from obscurity background and personal experiences keeping his feet firmly on the ground.

And judging by the popularity of his tour so far, the audiences are finding time for Russell.

*Russelll Watson 'Up Close and Personal' is at Lighthouse, Poole on June 3 and Weymouth Pavilion on June 13