Alfie Boe has credited Pete Townshend with helping him unlock his songwriting voice.
As he prepares to release his first album of original material in two decades, 52-year-old Alfie – the operatic tenor known for his work in musical theatre and his chart-topping partnership with Michael Ball – said The Who veteran Pete, 80, encouraged him to abandon traditional structures while writing his new record, Face Myself, which is set for release on 11 April.
Alfie told the Daily Mirror: “Weirdly, the guy that taught me songwriting was Pete Townshend. I tried writing with Pete and it was like, ‘Find a chorus, what rhymes with this, what rhymes with that?’.
“And he said, ‘Don’t try to rhyme. Don’t even try and write a chorus or a verse, just write thoughts’.
“He called it free writing. And I did. I just started it. And the minute I started, I couldn’t stop and I was sending him banks and banks of lines that were just coming to my head and storyboards and words that create images and journeys.
“And it was cathartic, it felt like I was releasing something inside me that I’d been suppressing.”
The first single from Alfie’s upcoming album, Meanwhile Gardens, is out now.
His new record marks a significant shift for the singer, whose previous attempts to write his own songs were vetoed by music executives who struggled to see beyond his opera background and his success in Les Miserables, as well as his four No 1 UK albums with Michael Ball, 63, as Ball and Boe.
Alfie said the record is the first time he has taken a hands-on role in production.
He added: “It’s hard for people to see me in another category and another light… but it’s something I’ve been passionate about for years.
“Now I write every single day and I’m proud of that.
“This is the first album that I’ve actually had input on the production – in the history of my career – the freedom to write string parts, create vocal lines, lines for backing singers, work on piano and guitar parts, on percussion and everything. And I’ve loved every single minute.”
His new approach will extend to a UK tour opening at the London Palladium on 30 March, featuring a five-piece band rather than the arena-scale productions of previous years.
Alfie went on: “I’ve stood on stage as the opera singer, as Jean Valjean in Les Miserables, and as a rock singer with Pete Townshend.
“All that musical knowledge has put me here. But this album feels like a baring of my soul. So for the show, I didn’t want any glitz or glamour, or flashing lights.
“I didn’t want any backcloth with sparkly stars or anything like that.
“I want it to be simple. Even if the stage doorman has his bicycle parked at the back of the stage, I want it to stay there because it’s real.
“I’ve taken a leap but I trust my fans. The new music is not going to put them off. I’m not singing it as musical theatre or an operatic piece, but with the voice I was born with. The voice people have followed for 30 years. I’m very grateful to them and want to give them the real me.”
Alfie, who previously lived in the US with his former wife Sarah and their children, Grace and Alfred, said returning to northern England later in life surprised him.
He said: “I was a bit nervous about going back, because I moved to London when I was 19.
“I could never understand why my brothers and sisters migrated back up north.
“But the older I’ve got, I’ve just had that pull.”