Bradford rockers Smokie will be sharing a stage with fellow 1970s stars David Cassidy, Leo Sayer and Hot Chocolate on a major arena tour.

The four acts, who have a combined total of 55 top ten singles and more than 200 million record sales, will be brought together for the first time on the Once in a Lifetime tour this autumn.

Smokie, formed 40 years ago at St Bede’s School, Heaton, are hugely popular across Europe and in the Far East.

They are particularly big in South Korea, Russia and Scandinavia, and are one of the few Western bands to tour Mongolia, Uruguay and China.

At the end of last year they played at a ball at the Kremlin, their second visit there at the invitation of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Smokie’s manager John Wagstaff said they were Putin’s favourite band.

“Security at the Kremlin was very tight but we were taken on a tour of the building, including the President’s suite,” he said. “They played to 1,500 of Russia’s top state, military and church leaders.”

Earlier this year the band played a charity gig at the Cedar Court Hotel in Bradford, with proceeds going to the Annette Fox Leukaemia Research Fund.

Smokie was formed in the late 1960s by St Bede’s classmates Terry Uttley, Alan Silson and Chris Norman.

In the 1970s they had top ten singles including If You Think You Know How To Love Me and Oh Carol.

They split up in the early 1980s, but reunited at a 1986 fundraising concert for relatives of Bradford City Fire victims.

Chris Norman was later replaced by Black Lace singer Alan Barton, who was with Smokie until his death following a tour bus crash in Germany in 1995.

With Mike Craft as frontman, Smokie continued touring and were back in the charts in 1995 with comic Roy ‘Chubby’ Brown’s version of their 1976 hit Living Next Door To Alice.

The Once In A Lifetime tour is at Sheffield Motorpoint Arena on Friday, November 16. Tickets will be on sale on Friday at 9am, on 0844 847 1726, or from ticketmaster.co.uk.