A YOUNG Irish emigrant leaves Mayo in search of fame and fortune.

That is the storyline of musical drama Paddy, which is coming to Warrington for the opening night of its first UK tour.

But it also sounds a bit like the life of lead actor Tommy Fleming.

Since his childhood days singing in his parents' barn in County Sligo, Tommy always knew he wanted to be a performer.

And he has not stopped since being discovered by producer and composer Phil Coulter even after a serious car accident – which he describes as 'the worst time of my life' – put him out of action for a year.

Those themes of determination, hard work and a bit of serendipity run through the musical and Tommy admits there are parallels with his own life.

But Paddy is about the Irish emigrants of the 1960s when the world was a very different place. The show follows Paddy's life in both London city and Ireland over a 25 year period.

Tommy, whose album Restless Spirit went double platinum, said: "I saw the story and I thought: ‘That could be my dad, that could be my uncles’.

"There are so many people I know that are ‘Paddy’ – who went to find a new life in England. Some of them were successful and some of them weren’t.

"The ones who were not so successful are what we call the 'forgotten Irish' and they are there to this day living in not great conditions.

"There was a lot of shame and a lot of angst brought on by that shame that made them not come home. The last thing they wanted was the embarrassment of being unsuccessful.

"When you talk about emigration in the 60s from Ireland anyone who left from Mayo to go to London took the same amount of time as it does today to go from Dublin to Sydney.

"The world has got so much smaller now. Even if you go to Australia in the morning you could go for two days and be back. You’re connected via Skype, via WhatsApp, via Facebook, via Twitter.

"Before it, people were waiting on a letter that might come once a month."

The show was devised by Tommy, Midwest Radio’s Tommy Marren and Mayo-based songwriter Gerry Carney and launched last year for a tour in Ireland.

Tommy added: "We did it in Ireland last year and it was a very successful run and it’s an English story as much as it is an Irish story – it is based in Watford – so it made sense to bring it to the UK."

It is Tommy's first major acting role which has proved to be a bit of a balancing act with his singing career showing no signs of slowing down.

"It’s a completely different discipline," he said.

"When I’m doing a concert there is room for error. You can make a mistake and get away with it. With this you can’t make a mistake because there is a script that has to be adhered to at all times.

"It’s been difficult trying to juggle both sides of my career. I’ve spent the last two months finishing off my new album, I’ve just come off the plane this morning from my solo US tour and now I've got the UK tour of Paddy."

But singing and being creative has always been Tommy's lifeline – even when his parents Anne and Paddy died on the same day in 2012, a fortnight after their golden wedding anniversary.

They were both admitted to Mayo General Hospital after his mum suffered a stroke and his dad had heart complications.

"I was finding as much work as I could to keep the grief at bay," said Tommy, who has sold more than three million albums worldwide.

"I started to record an album I hadn’t planned on. In the middle of that I started writing a book and in the middle of writing the book I produced and directed a documentary.

"I had to take a back-seat after that and re-evaluate things. I postponed my Australian tour and it was the best decision I made because it wasn’t in me."

After having time to heal and now refreshed, Tommy continues to live and breathe the inspiring themes within Paddy.

"Hard work and determination are a key factor," he added.

"No matter how talented you are you need to work hard and have a good work ethic. If you don’t have that and you expect everyone else to do the job for you it will go belly up."

- Paddy is at the Parr Hall on Wednesday, November 9. Visit pyramidparrhall or call 42345 for tickets.