Once he was a big enough name to be right at the front of the stage for Live Aid.

Now he's battling against being labelled as one of pop's has-beens. And the road back to the recording studio starts in Bermuda for Paul Young, who arrives on the Island today.

It's been years since the pop-soul singer rocked the world with Every Time You Go Away, Wherever I Lay My Hat and Don't Dream It's Over.

His early-eighties No Parlez album sent him sky-rocketing to the top of the charts, giving him worldwide fame.

But 15 years later, the British star is without a manager and without a recording contract.

Wherever he lays his hat is his home. But eight gigs at the Surf Club will give him major reasons for performing in Bermuda: a two-week holiday and an opportunity to balance the books.

"I slipped away from the mainstream years ago,'' Paul tells The Royal Gazette from his new Hertfordshire home, saying he's "not stupid enough'' to think he's in competition with new heartthrob Robbie Williams, once a singer with boy band, Take That.

"I'm quite aware of that,'' he says. "It doesn't really bug me. I'm off doing what I want to do now. As long as I'm making money, that's OK.'' It's not that he's in debt, the 42-year-old is at pains to say. But the days of stardom are over.

That's why playing at an intimate venue like the Surf Club, with only a few hundred people paying, does not faze him.

"This year I moved house and I'm in between a lot of things,'' he says. "I said to my agent that I'm up to any gigs at all. We have done the summer festivals and things like that and I have been to a couple of weird and wonderful places.

"As long as it works out that it's feasible and that we are not losing money, I don't mind going. This is an opportunity that's come up, it's nice and warm and it's somewhere new to play.'' Now he's hoping a successful mini-tour to Bermuda will help him sort out a new management deal to start recording in the New Year.

He wants to turn his house into a huge studio. And he's putting the anguish of being fired by his record company -- Warner label EastWest -- behind him.

"It's the same for anybody else who's my age,'' says Paul, who brings his wife and three children with him to Bermuda.

"I'm 42 now and anybody like me who's mixed up in the eighties, unless they are a revival band like Culture Club, is finding they've got troubles.

"To me, I have always had more like a Robert Palmer career -- successful for a while, then you disappear, then you come up, then you go down again. But I feel a little bit keener to change. I'm trying to move on.'' The former Q-tips front man turned away from pure soul and brass-based albums to make No Parlez -- a record which went against the record company's own wishes.

"They were only letting me do two tracks at a time because they thought they were signing a soul singer who was going to do an album with a brass section.

"Then I went in with synths and everything else and started making pop records. I didn't know what I was making but after being in a soul band, a retro soul band, I decided it was better to get up to date with modern techniques,'' he said.

His line-up at the Surf Club includes experienced hands Matt Irving on keyboards, Matt Cheadle on guitar, Chris Childs on bass and John Tonks on drums.

There would have been a place for Bermudian Andy Newmark, the former drummer for John Lennon, Rod Stewart and Roxy Music, but it would have involved too much rehearsing in too short a time-frame.

Paul says: "Andy gave me all the gen about Bermuda and he plays with my old bass player.

"But I have had a band rehearsed up for the whole year and it seemed a bit stupid to go in and teach a whole new rhythm section another 14 or 15 songs.'' That set will include a mixture of some old Young standards, "some new stuff'' and perhaps even a Q-tips hit or two.

"I have been doing festivals all this year so the set's up-tempo and loud and brash,'' says Paul.

"Then I heard about the size of the club and I thought we'd better put a couple of more laid-back things in.

"We will still be doing Wherever I Lay My Hat and Every Time You Go Away but knocking out Love Will Tear Us Apart and putting Don't Dream It's Over back in. There's some stuff which will come in simply because the Surf Club is a small setting.'' Home in Bermuda will be Elbow Beach, the new Surf Club operators. Also staying there will be wife Stacey, two-year-old son Grady and daughters Levi, 11, and four-year-old Layla -- named after the Eric Clapton classic for Derek and the Dominoes.

"Layla is one of my all-time favourite songs,'' says Paul. "It's funny because I wouldn't say Eric Clapton was a major influence but I just love that song. Having said that, I've got most of the records he's ever made.

"But Paul Rogers and Otis Redding were my real influences. No-one will ever take the place of Otis, Paul Rogers and Bobby Womack. As for nowadays, I don't have a favourite but I buy absolutely everything. I'm still listening to Radiohead and Mansun and Spiritually Alive.

"I'm playing country stuff like Dina Carter and also some Tex-Mex stuff with accordion and pedal stool. There's about 1,500 CDs in my collection but that's because I buy everything that's coming through.

"As well as the British bands, like Manic Street Preachers, there are some American acts that I like, like Wilco and a guy called Chuck Profett, who are all from the Tennessee area.

"They are not country, they are too young, but they act country. It's like: `You can take the boy out of the country but you can't take the country out of the boy'.'' It's the music that relaxes Paul Young. The Surf Club gigs are a serious business for him. But Bermuda will provide with the perfect backdrop for a working, relaxing holiday.

"We are just going to be chilling out,'' he says. "I don't really know much about the Island except that it's very small and we will be going around on mopeds.

"I refuse to golf. But I love the sea and I love the water and all water sports, especially water-skiing and windsurfing.'' All in all, Paul feels Bermuda is the perfect destination for a pop star trying to get back on track.

It's not Live Aid any more for Paul Young. It's live gigs, no matter how small.

Paul Young