FORMER Hear’Say singer Noel Sullivan was leading a double life – rock star by day and drag performer by night. He went from leather and rock anthems to high heels and Kylie songs.

That’s what you get when you’re in the final week of the tour of outrageous musical Priscilla Queen Of The Desert and rehearsing for Rock Of Ages – The Musical during the day.

He and Rock co-star Ben Richards, the former Footballers Wives and The Bill actor, haven’t worked together before but have played the same roles – both have been Danny Zucko in Grease and Tick in Priscilla.

Hear’Say, the pop group that came out of a TV talent hunt, gave Sullivan a start in showbusiness and, since that ended, he’s made a name for himself in musical theatre in shows like Priscilla, Grease and We Will Rock You.

Playing a drag artist touring the Australian Outback and being reunited with his young son in Priscilla was great, he says. “It was completely out there, a fantastic show and the tour did fantastically well. Rock Of Ages is completely different – couldn’t be further away from Priscilla.”

He’d seen Rock Of Ages, the “ultimate rock tape musical” that celebrates classic 1980s rock culture, in London’s West End. “It doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s a comedy essentially and that’s what I liked about it. Of course it’s a jukebox musical and really revels in the fact that’s what it is and doesn’t try to hide it,” he says.

The show finds a small town girl and a big city rocker falling in love to the greatest songs of the decade including We Built This City, The Final Countdown, I Wanna Know What Love Is and Don’t Stop Believin’. “There are killer power ballads and bands that conjure up images of my childhood. It’s a nostalgic trip back to the 1980s,” says Sullivan, who plays young musician Drew Boley.

“I’m kind of the romantic lead. He falls for a girl who comes to LA to be an actress. Our story is about the path of true love and whether we’re going to end up together. It doesn’t end the way you’d expect. Sometimes the dreams or love you think you have don’t pan out.

“After playing a drag queen in Priscilla, I’m a strait-laced character. All around me the other people are such huge characters, caricatures almost. Even though they get to be a lot more outrageous, I get to sing some of the best songs.

“They’re difficult vocal tracks but it’s like anything it gets easier as you go along. You train your voice into it. But it’s eight shows a week and they didn’t write those songs with that many performances in mind.

“Audiences get so into it and so involved. It’s the ultimate party.”

Having worked consistently in the ten or 11 years since Hear’Say split, he’s happy with how his career is going as he’s getting to play roles he’s always wanted to play. He’s worked in the West End but a lot of time has been on the road touring which is why he says, “Home doesn’t exist any more.

“I just put everything in storage because I was renting in London. Everything of mine is in a shed in Croydon. I’m on the road until November and don’t have time to go home at weekends. The show is really demanding and at the end of the week you just want to lie down.”

Rock Of Ages brings him back to Sunderland Empire, one of the largest venues on the tour, and York Grand Opera House, one of the smallest. He has fond memories of both venues talking of “great audiences and great shows”.

He’s happy to continue doing theatre for the time being because that’s where the work is coming from and also he wanted to establish himself in musical theatre. Being in a pop group like Hear’Say did little to prepare him for treading the boards. “I found myself in a position where other people were in control of my destiny,” he says.

  • Sunderland Empire, July 28-Aug 2. Box Office: 0844-871-3022 and atgtickets.com/ sunderland York Grand Opera House, Sept 2-6. 0844-871- 3024 and atgtickets.com/York