MIKE D'ABO is the very definition of living for the moment. The former Manfred Mann frontman tells JOANNA DAVIS there's no stopping him as he prepares to bring his 60s nostalgia show to Weymouth.

THE first time I try to get hold of Mike d'Abo I discover that he's somewhere on the M25 making his way home to Gloucestershire.

Mike's apologetic wife informs me he will be heading off up north the next day so it's decided I will call him the following week when he has a seemingly extremely rare day off. Mike, who sang The Mighty Quinn and co-wrote Build Me Up Buttercup and Handbags and Gladrags, has been travelling for three separate tours - the Sensational 60s Experience, Bringing On Back the 60s and will start a tour with former members of Manfred Mann, The Manfreds, later this year. Not surprisingly Mike has already performed 85 gigs this year. And let's not forget he hosts a regular radio show Late Night West.

But it's Bringing On Back the 60s we are discussing today, which is coming to Weymouth Pavilion on Friday, May 4. Mike has teamed up with 60s music revivalists New Amen Corner and Little Miss Sixties, Nancy Ann Lee, for this musical variety show, which promises two hours of million-selling hits from the most prolific decade in music history.

Mike, 74, tells me: "I'm always singing the praises of New Amen Corner. They're the most authentic 60s band around, they play the music in a totally authentic way. Their musical skills and precision are second to none, as are their covers of the Beatles and all the hits they do like Nights in White Satin and Bend Me, Shape Me. Their singer is the most amazing vocalist and it's fantastic when they do the Moody Blues and Scott Walker songs. Little Miss Sixties will be doing tracks by different female singers of the era like Aretha Franklin, Dusty Springfield, Sandy Shaw and Lulu.

"My job in the show is to play some of the Manfreds hits. We had eight top 10 hits and the best known of them is The Mighty Quinn, I also share my version of the best known songs I did as a songwriter, Handbags and Gladrags and Build Me Up Buttercup. It's an evening full of a lot of hits and I think people are surprised to discover that I wrote those songs."

I've phoned Mike on the rare occasion he has the house to himself - his 11-year-old twins are out of the house on the last day of their school's Easter break. When he plays Weymouth on May 4 Mike is hoping to combine the gig with some quality family time.

"When I come to Weymouth it'll be the first time in three months I'll get a couple of days off afterwards. I haven't been there for four years. We're planning to spend the weekend in Weymouth together as a family and we're looking forward to building some sandcastles together. I have always thought that Weymouth is one of the prettiest unspoilt destinations. I love the seaside but I hate the way so many of the seaside resorts have broken their roots with the Victorian era."

Back in 1966 Mike was an unemployed vocalist looking for his first big break. He circulated some demo records which caught the attention of Manfred Mann. Lead vocalist Paul Jones had left in pursuit of a solo career and the group was looking for a replacement.

"Going into the group was an overwhelming experience," Mike remembers. "Manfred invited me to lunch. I was half prepared for the guys to pop the question and ask me to join the band. I was impressed by the competence of Paul Jones. I tried to be myself and my job was to try and keep the hits coming and I did."

But relations soured, Mike said, when he realised there was little opportunity for him to sing his own songs in the band. While with Manfred Mann, Mike wrote and produced songs for many other artists like Chris Farlowe, Rod Stewart and The Fortunes. In May 1969 Manfred Mann dissolved the group, and Mike was his own man. His career lost none of its momentum.

Mike saw Build Me Up Buttercup become a hit for The Foundations and Handbags & Gladrags, a massive hit for Chris Farlowe, reprised with equal success by Rod Stewart, first in 1970 and more recently on his MTV-based 'unplugged' album and then later by The Stereophonics.

I ask Mike what the financial benefits have been of penning two hits which are still constantly played on the radio. "It has helped to keep me solvent! I always anticipate these bank statements when they come in but the songs have bolstered me quite a lot. But it's not as though I can go out and buy a yacht and cruise the Mediterranean."

Father of five Mike had the added bonus of seeing Handbags & Gladrags used on iconic sitcom The Office and had the fortune to compose the 'finger of fudge is not enough' jingle, which most of us couldn't get out of our heads for may years. He also used his musical talent to compose the soundtrack of the Peter Sellers/Goldie Hawn movie There's A Girl In My Soup and has acted in the West End.

"I suppose I have a gift of melody," Mike says. "But I don't feel I've been recognised enough for my songwriting, which I'd rather be better known for than being a singer."

Mike tells me that even in his downtime he'll go straight to the piano and start writing! But he reluctantly lists a few hobbies outside of music - golf, watching and playing cricket and going to the seaside. And one day when it all gets too much, Mike vows to enter his retirement somewhere warm: "You want the feelgood factor of being healthy and enjoying sunshine, seafood and Sauvignon blanc. That's the perfect combination," he says.

*Bringing on Back the 60s, Weymouth Pavilion, Friday, May 4, 7.30pm. Call the box office for tickets.