DESPITE avoiding the limelight for several years, Kiki Dee, has emerged looking as good as ever . . .

The voice is still strong, and the enthusiasm bubbling -- but something has changed.

The singer whose career has spanned four decades is touring the smaller clubs with guitarist and composer Carmelo Luggeri, and is finally getting to sing the songs she chooses.

Her "grass roots" tour takes her to The Met in Bury on Sunday, October 4. But her audience should not be surprised to see Pauline Matthews emerge from the shadows.

Kiki explained: "That is my real name and who I am when I am up there on stage on this tour.

"I have gone back to the grass roots which I never had a chance to do before.

"Obviously I have had a really interesting career with the pop music and the theatre success but I have never had a live following and it is that which gives you a musical stamp of approval.

"It is that which leads people to say you are a good singer.

"Now I think, what have I got to lose?

" I do not want to spend my time being known as just a celebrity. I want to be a musician, even if it means going back to the very beginning.

"The hardest thing is letting the audience know what to expect though. I do perform some old stuff but it is all acoustic.

"I have done all the tours with celebrity trappings but it does not give you any great satisfaction. This is taking much more artistic effort. It is more satisfying.

"The tour has officially just started and I am also working on writing a new album with Carmelo.

"I like the intimacy of the small venues. It is hands on -- it feels real.

"That is why I feel like Pauline Matthews up there. It is musically challenging and I am very, very committed to taking this project as far as I can.

"All my career I have been doing what other people thought I should. Now it is my turn. It is the first time I will have been holding the reigns musically."

Kiki has been working with Carmelo for five years. She said: "I would describe the show as acoustic. We also take a tabla player with us. The last album we had contained an East and West quality about it.

"The songs we are performing are quite soulful, we do a couple of covers and some old stuff. But people should come with an open mind."

Kiki's career began as soon as she left school in the early 1960s.

She said: "I had always wanted to be a singer from being very young. I was not academic so I had to lean towards this kind of thing.

"I got a record deal straight away at the age of 16 or 17 and was quickly doing television, cabaret -- anything to make a living. "But even though I was working, I realised fairly early on that things were not going to particularly happen for me in a big way in my teens."

At this time Kiki was performing covers of contemporary US soul hits and it was her work with these which attracted the attention of Tamla Motown's executives.

She became the first European artist to be signed to the label. But it was not until 1973 when she signed to Elton John's label, Rocket Records, that she began to enjoy commercial success.

Her album, Loving and Free, produced by Elton John became a top 20 hit. Hit singles followed, but her most successful remains Don't Go Breaking My Heart, a duet with Elton John, which got to number one in America and the UK.

Her working relationship with the superstar has remained constant and despite their contrasting lifestyles, they keep in touch.

Kiki said: "Elton and I were born two weeks apart and we hit it off straight away. I think Dusty was initially pencilled in for Loving and Free but it went to me for some reason instead.

"Musically, Elton and I are not in the same place but we just get on very well. We always do birthdays. I will be meeting him again in November, when we will be singing at a party together."

Kiki's career has been diverse and from pop stardom she became a terrific success on stage.

She said: "That all came at the right time for me -- at a time I was not sure what I wanted to do musically.

"I was 40 and knew I was not going to be a pop star any more. I was approached to audition for Blood Brothers and had no expectations. I love working with people and the theatre was very good for me. I liked the fact that I was part of a team. It was like having a real job.

"It is not about what clothes you wear but whether you can deliver. Acting was also a constant challenge -- very strange moving from dialogue into song."

But no matter what area Kiki has moved into, the name guarantees she is always remembered. So how did a girl from Bradford come up with the name Kiki Dee?

She laughs: "That came when I was first signed to a record label in the 1960s. I was given the name.

"It was initially Kinky Dee and I think it came about as all part of the cute thing that was going on at the time.

"There was Sandra Dee and Simon Dee and I became Kiki Dee. It was completely fabricated and I can not believe it is the name I now have.

"It is not who I am today at all. I like to think I have evolved . . ."

Kiki and Carmelo appear at The Met in Bury town centre on October 7, 8pm. For tickets telephone 0161 761 2216.