SINGING in smoky bars until 4am and playing in front of 75,000 people has made a Wharfedale singer one of the hottest folk properties in Denmark.

Andrew Huddlestone left his home town of Ilkley after university more than 30 years ago to follow his then girlfriend to her homeland in Denmark and lives in the country's second biggest city, Aarhauss.

Now the 52-year-old can point to a string of concerts in Denmark and the rest of Europe, as well as years toiling in packed bars, as having made him one of the foremost folk singers in his adopted country.

He said: "Lots of folk singers come to Denmark because unless you are well known it is so hard to make a living as a singer in England.

"I came over after university with my girl friend at the time. By the time most of my friends in England were 22 they were in tweed jackets and were school teachers. I wanted the student life for a bit longer."

Mr Huddlestone, who is married to Lissa, 47, has played concerts in Holland and Belgium as well as Denmark.

The couple featured on a Yorkshire TV programme on Sunday looking at people from the area who now live and work abroad.

Mr Huddlestone said: "We played three songs. Lissa performed one in Danish, I did a song about Ilkley in English and then we performed a third song, again in Danish, which was a sort of equivalent to We'll Meet Again.

"Not many English people realise that the British liberated Denmark during the 1939-45 war and for that reason we were very popular over here. This was still the case when I came over but it's not quite the same now."

The folk singer still makes regular trips back to West Yorkshire to visit his parents, who live in Ilkley, and his sister, an artist in Yeadon.

To find out more about Mr Huddleston visit his website at www.ilkley.dk

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