"A year from now, they'll be saying: 'Will who?'" So went the pub wisdom in early 2002, after Will Young had surprisingly beaten Gareth Gates in a head-to-head public vote to win the final of Britain's first new-generation talent show, Pop Idol.

Will had quietly prevailed as judges Simon Cowell, Pete Waterman, Nicki Chapman and Dr Fox (not a real doctor/fox) and a misty-eyed press had all backed Gareth Gates, the endearing, stuttering 16-year-old next door with the voice of an angel.

But Will Young's metrosexual appeal and excellent white soul voice endured. Still, it didn't stop lounge bars and living rooms up and down the country, already fat on reality from the Big Brother franchise, confidently predicting that Will Young would be a flash in the pan.

A decade or so after those initial Pop Idol auditions, Will Young has sold more than 8 million records, collected a couple of BRIT awards and established himself as a credible pop star, as well as something of an actor with stage and screen credits to his name. It is fair to say that he has proved any doubters wrong.

His sixth studio album, 'Echoes', is released in August and Will Young will be hitting the road in October and November for a 20-plus date UK tour.

Starting in Swindon on 27th October, the tour takes in Belfast, Aberdeen, Glasgow, Llandudno, Manchester, two dates at the Shepherd's Bush Empire (21st/22nd November) and many more, before the final show at Cardiff's St David's Hall on Saturday 26th November.

We will have tickets from Friday 8th July at 9AM, priced around £35.