SOUTH Wales singing star Peter Karrie is making a welcome return to the Valleys this evening with a performance at The Doll's House in Abertillery.

The star of shows like Les Miserables, Evita, Chess and Jesus Christ Superstar, Karrie is best known for making the eponymous role in Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera very much his own.

Unbelievably he began his career with an audience 'unmooved' by his voice - the cows on his family's Penarth farm.

The 54-year-old said: "My gran used to make me muck out the cow shed. "That's when I sang to my first audience.

"It was this huge old cow shed dating back to the 13th or 14th century. All the slates had gone and been replaced by a tin roof but it had the most amazing acoustics.

"I used to go in there and sing to the cows who bellowed away. I thought they were being appreciative!"

Peter Karrie appears at Abertillery club The Doll's House on Alma Street, Abertillery tonight at 7.30pm. Tickets are priced at £10.