WITH a sense of humour as irreverent, playful and wicked as PJ Proby’s, it is hard not to instantly warm to him within seconds of dialling through to his Worcestershire home and hearing that Deep South drawl.

Before our conversation I was wondering how best to tackle this Texan firebrand, who is perhaps best known for his split trousers, or ‘pants’ on live television, shocking the nation and encouraging the ire of Mary Whitehouse.

His biography reads like a slalom run on black ice, crammed with flashpoints and peppered with anecdotes that hark back to when famous people really were famous.

But I even get an invitation to visit PJ’s Winnebago, which will be parked outside Weymouth Pavilion as he joins a glittering line-up of sixties stars to bring Sixties Gold to the stage.

Also performing at the pavilion on October 14 are Brian Poole & The Tremeloes, The Searchers, Wayne Fontana and Gary Puckett & Union Gap.

PJ enthuses: “They’re like my family, I’ve known them for 52 years. Those were the days when we would run around together, not just perform together. Artists don’t seem to do that any more.”

PJ became involved in Sixties Gold through his former manager Robert Pratt, who now manages Gerry Marsden, as in Gerry and the Pacemakers. Rob and another good friend of his also manage The Searchers, he tells me.

Sixties stars are obviously a tight-knit group, I observe. So what does PJ make of the music industry these days?

He doesn’t beat about the bush.

“There’s no industry any more. It’s all hi-tech and it all seems to be run by electronics.

“There’s no such thing as the hit parade any more. Everything has to go through the internet. All the deals are done by those men on the golf course and over the lunch tables. Now you have to put a request over the internet, through Facebook to get anything done. Nothing is hands-on and nothing is psychical.”

Being hands-on is certainly not alien to PJ, coming from a very different background to most music stars. Born James Marcus Smith in Houston, from the tender age of nine he found himself in military academies and later took up a job as bodyguard to Rock Hudson when he moved to Hollywood.

“The military made me a together person and made me more responsible and disciplined. You learn to take care of yourself on all levels. Every time I did something wrong I had to take 30 licks of the belt.”

PJ’s tenacity got him a scholarship to the University of Missouri. He was offered a place at Mary Martin’s Drama Theatre School in New York but turned it down to move to Hollywood.

“I did it all backwards,” PJ admits. “I should have gone to New York because they made stars for the Broadway stage.

“By the time I got to Hollywood the studio system was going out of the window, I was minding Rock Hudson. It was difficult for him. In Hollywood you had to be heterosexual and at any party where someone would call Rock ‘homosexual’ I would have to take them outside and knock it out of them.”

Another Hollywood and music icon PJ had a connection to was Elvis Presley. After the-then James had his name changed to Jett Powers by his agent, he became engaged to Elvis’s ex-girlfriend Dotty Harmony.

The rivalry between the pair began when they played American football for opposing teams, PJ says.

“When I started going with his girlfriend he couldn’t stand the fact that any girl he had ever been with would think of looking at another man. I knew he had a huge ego, I just didn’t know how big it was.”

And the final withering putdown is reserved for Elvis’s famed love of cheeseburgers...

“Everything you would eat at his house was fried. It was the taste. I couldn’t stand all that fat on my food.”

After recording a series of demos, PJ’s talent was spotted by English producer Jack Good and he was invited to be part of Brian Epstein’s UK special Around The Beatles.

PJ sang four songs, making a giant impression and in no time his first UK single Hold Me climbed the charts to number three. This hit was followed by the next hits Together and the unforgettable ballads Somewhere and Maria.

Teenage girls went wild for PJ, rushing the stage at the Royal Albert Hall, where he performed as a support act for Adam Faith and was chased into a toilet where fans ripped his ponytail out.

In fact, everything was going swimmingly until his trousers split on live TV and he was described as ‘obscene’ by self-appointed moral crusader Mary Whitehouse.

“She did whatever she did to convince the public that I was not right for them,” he says, seemingly still stung by the incident.

“’Obscene’ was the word she used to describe me. She ruined my career and made me a jobbing singer.“They would never invite me on a chat show because I tell the truth.

“I don’t really have regrets though.”

Living happily in Worcestershire where he has his own recording studio at home, PJ loves taking his Winnebago on the road for tours like Sixties Gold.

“Where I live there’s lots of open pasture and farmland and there are wonderful apples and asparagus growing.

“I love taking my Winnebago when I tour because I can go to sleep and wake up at the theatre.”

And at this, I, and everyone else, is invited into PJ’s hallowed vehicle.

“If anyone wants to meet and greet after the show they can come to the Winnebago. They can stay as long as they like a drink!

“I don’t drink myself but I don’t trust anyone who doesn’t. I keep a wet bar in the Winnebago for everyone but me.”

Sixties Gold concertgoers - it’s over to you.

n Sixties Gold is at Weymouth Pavilion on October 14. Contact the box office for tickets.