MEET Chris Duffy today, pictured, and the impression you get is a smartly-dressed, enthusiastic PR boss, a bit more savvy than most of his contemporaries.

He specialises in the hospitality sector and his company Ten 4 Public Relations represents around 20 restaurants across the Gwent and Glamorgan regions.

Two weeks ago he helped organise Cardiff's first Asian Cultural Festival on behalf of his client The Empire Group.

But delve a little deeper into his background and you will uncover a late 80s/ early 90s popstar and a talented singer and songwriter.

From his earliest school band days in Cardiff, Mr Duffy formed a musical collaboration with Phil Cilia.

"He was the chord-smith, I wrote the lyrics and top line melodies. We worked together for so long we could understand exactly what each would do without even mentioning it."

After leaving school Mr Duffy moved to Chepstow, married his wife Julie, who taught French at Duffryn Comprehensive, and settled into a day job for British Telecom.

The two men played gigs around the area with their band Waterfront and mused about what life would be like as professional musicians.

Curiosity got the better of them and they decided to give it a go. They made third place in the national final of the Daily Mirror's 1986 Rock the World competition.

The exposure resulted in an offer of professional management and with that came a make-over with a new image and showcase performances for the major record labels.

Friends of friends introduced Waterfront to American publishing company SBK and they signed up for an eight-album deal worth an initial £160, 000. "After than our feet didn't touch the ground.

"We had to write another seven songs to make a ten-track album and record them at studios around London."

One of their producers was Glen Skinner who did a lot of work with Culture Club and Curiosity Killed the Cat.

"At one point we were sitting in Angel Studios backed by a 60-piece orchestra conducted by Anne Dudley - she went on to win an Oscar for her work on the Lion King.

"It seemed an awful long way from the school band."

While in London, the pair stayed at The Pembridge Hotel in Bayswater, an establishment devoted to the music industry and housing other young hopefuls such as Jason Donovan and Kyle and Danni Minogue.

Waterfront appeared on the Polydor label in the UK and for its sister label Polygram in the US.

The single Cry made the top 20 in the UK and number one in the US.

The stateside success led to a three-month tour playing gigs across the country and doing "meet and greets" with the media.

"It was looking very good for us over there but it was killing my partner who had met a girl from the UK and wanted to get back to her."

Mr Cilia returned to the UK and established a London-based music production company.

Mr Duffy went solo, first with an album and then as a Los Angeles-based company songwriter for EMI.

During this period he came up with songs for Night Rider and Baywatch's David Hasselhoff, for Disney films and an early version of the sound track for Robin Hood Prince of Thieves.

"Bryan Adams rewrote my material and came up with "Everything I do".

"I was surprised not to get a few (percentage) points on the album sales for that."

Mr Duffy returned to south east Wales due to the serious illness and subsequent death of his father.

"I thought I could go on writing from here, but it's a lot more difficult when you're out-of-the-loop; you need to be in producers' faces if you want to get the offers."

Considering his options, Mr Duffy realised that having done a million radio, TV and press interviews while promoting Waterfront, PR was something he could easily turn his hand to.

He started with Golley Slater, took a few in-house jobs, and became a freelance about four years ago.

Having established a niche specialism in the hospitality industry, he's happy to continue developing his knowledge of this sector.

"It's an interesting part of the economy and more competitive by the month.

"I would say that 50 to 60 per cent of establishments now have somebody doing marketing and PR for them, either in-house or through an agency."

London's obsession with celebrity chefs has yet to reach Wales, although Mr Duffy sees signs of it in Marco Pierre White's involvement with the kitchen at St David's Hotel in the Bay.

Mr Duffy's client work varies from producing fliers and direct mail to arranging sponsorships of Bryn Terfil at the Welsh National Opera. He's currently negotiating with Cardiff city council to hold a wine treading competition using 2-tonnes of imported grapes later this summer.

But now and again his old and new careers cross paths.

For one of his clients he arranged a charity re-recording of Feed the World, with the restaurant staff on vocals.

"Try as we might, we couldn't find anyone who could reliably hold the lead vocal, so reluctantly I did it.

"It was recently played to Bucky Baxter, a Nashville-based artist who played guitar on about six albums for Bob Dylan.

"He said, 'who's singing the lead vocal on this'."

When told it was the singer form Waterfront, he said: "I remember him, tell him to get in touch, I'd like to work with him in my studio."

The 1980s Welsh popster might yet become a 21st century "new country" artist.