AT 65, you might expect Marty Wilde to be taking it easy - perhaps even taking a leaf out of daughter Kim's book and going in for a spot of gentle gardening.

Not a bit of it. The original British rock'n'roller may, as of yesterday, be eligible for a bus pass, but he's not quite ready to swap his guitar for a seed-drill.

"Every other day I say to my wife I'm going to retire, but never have," admits Marty, currently one month into a three month joint tour with fellow music star Joe Brown.

"It's always in my mind to retire, but I think I'd get bored very quickly. I think I'll be working until I drop."

It's an astonishing 46 years since Marty first shook up the hit parade with the likes of Endless Sleep, Donna and A Teenager in Love - all top ten hits for him in the late 1950s.

With Elvis leading the American onslaught, it was up to the likes of Marty, Joe and Cliff Richard to do their bit for the home front.

After a diet of Burl Ives, Perry Como and Pearl Carr and Teddy Johnson, British teenagers were ready to burst their hormonal banks when Marty and his quiff came along.

"I got a lot of female attention but it's a lot quieter now. Most of the fans are married with grandchildren now," says Marty, himself happily married to former singer Joyce Barker.

The performer puts his on-stage energy down to an undiminished passion for music.

"A lot of older people tend to lose that energy and fire, but I still have it. When I'm up on stage I always feel like I'm about 23 or 24, instead of 65.

"Of course, the moment I come off stage I feel my age again - especially if my knees or back are giving me trouble."

Marty's biggest concern is always his voice.

"I have to be very, very careful. If somebody's got a cold I try to avoid them. I gargle antiseptic a lot."

He also does his best to avoid smoke, but confesses to having once puffed a pridigious 60 cigarettes a day.

"I stopped smoking 17 years ago. I was touring in a show with an American singer called Brian Hyland, who's had many big hits. He was singing and breathing so much easier than I was.

"I thought 'This is crazy, I'm going to have to give up, otherwise I'm going to lose my voice entirely'."

No more last-minute ciggie before a performance, then. But Marty has learned to savour the nerves as much as his tobacco-free existence.

"I still get very, very nervous, but that's a good thing. It's a bit like going into a battle. If you're nervous, the adrenaline is pumping and think so much quicker and sharper."

Marty and Joe have worked together before, but this is their joint tour.

The pair are well-matched. In addition to their impressive rock pedigrees, they have both produced pop star daughters (Kim Wilde and Sam Brown) and producer sons (Ricky Wilde and Pete Brown).

There is another, more important, similarity: "I suppose the main link with Joe is that he's as passionate about music and what he likes as I am. We've never lost our passion for what we do."

It's a passion that has rubbed off on their children.

So did Kim get her passion for gardening from dad too?

"I think she must have got that from her mother. I'm not very green-fingered - but I get a lot pleasure from watching the gardener at work."

Joe Brown and Marty Wilde are at the Pavilion Theatre, Bournemouth on Sunday. Performance: 7.30pm. Tickets: from £14.50. Box office: 0870 111 3000.