WHEN the London Evening Standard reviewed Stephen Triffitt's tribute show to Frank Sinatra, it described it as "unsettlingly perfect" - high praise and due reward for the man who finally got his big break through the television programme Stars in Their Eyes in 2000 after having been a performer since he was five years old.

"Up until then my career had been very amateurish, just gigging in local bars, that kind of thing," Stephen says, still seemingly phased by his good fortune.

"The only reason I wanted to go on was so that I could write on my advertising posters 'As seen on Stars in Their Eyes'! Even more strangely, I initially applied to appear as Neil Diamond with Sin-atra as my second choice, but it was decided for me. The producers format the show according to who's going to be on, and Frank fitted with the other people selected in that group. So really it was just my turn.

"Nobody ever wants me to sing as Neil Diamond anymore! I used to do an open air event for a restaurant in Somerset and, despite the fact that I would sing Diamond, Barry Manilow and Billy Joel numbers as well as the Sinatra, in the end they just wanted me to do Frank."

After the programme had broadcast, a chance photograph of Stephen with Bob Geldof after one of his Sinatra performances ended up being printed in Hello! magazine, coming to the attention of American producer Jeff Kutash, who, for three years, had been trying to find someone for the part of Sinatra in a musical he was casting.

Of course Stephen got the part, playing in The Main Event in Atlantic City. But now he's back on these shores in the smash-hit musical The Rat Pack Live From Las Vegas, now in its second year in the West End.

"I didn't know how it was going to pan out but it was great. The American work really helped my name to get known. If you log on to the Sinatra society on the internet and put my name into the search engine you get so many results. Nancy Sinatra knows who I am and seems OK with what I'm doing - which is a relief.

"Even the people who don't know my name know me as that guy who sounds like Frank Sinatra from the show they saw, and I have some really loyal fans.

"People came from the UK to see me even when I was performing in Las Vegas - a lot of them see me as somehow carrying on his mantle.

"Bless them, they come up and say 'We never saw the man himself and you're as close as we're ever going to get'.

"A lot of the crowd at my concerts are there for the memories - fondly speaking, the blue rinse brigade - but there are also a lot of young people who come, for whom the idea of a big band of this sort is totally alien to them."

It has clearly been a lucrative gig for Stephen, but does he ever get frustrated doing the same tribute so repeatedly?

"Not at all. I enjoy the music - I have listened to big bands since I was 13 and I just love everything about it. You can't beat that feeling. Some of the tribute bands are based on acts which are still around, and they've got that problem of keeping up with image changes, but I just have to sing in a different age depending on the song.

"I'm actually looking at the possibility of working on some songs he might have sung if he was still alive. That's pretty much the only direction I can go in because of my voice - I could be singing Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini and it would sound like Frank Sinatra!"

But, thankfully, that number's not included in his tour, which is just Stephen, some great tunes and a stomping 17-piece band.

"My show is interactive and fun. I expect the audience to shout and have fun on a great night out, the way it should be".

Stephen Triffitt Celebrating Sinatra will be appearing at The Anvil for one night only - this Thursday, at 7.45pm. Tickets, priced from £16.50, are available from the box office on 01256 844244.