Back to the '70s with Jim - and Billy and Elton

Jim Witter's decade was the 1970s - a decade he's now celebrating with a stage show that brings together the music of two giants of the era.

Billy Joel and Elton John are the inspirations for The Piano Men, which plays Brighton's Theatre Royal from Wednesday, November 28 to Saturday, December 1.

Remember glam rock, flares and the Watergate scandal? They're all there in a show that puts the music in context.

Among the top tunes are Your Song, My Life, Candle In The Wind, Rocket Man and Just The Way You Are. And as Witter delivers them, rear-screen projections will also re-create the headlines, events, fashions and TV hits of the 1970s.

Canadian Witter came up with the concept for The Piano Men about six years ago.

"I was touring, doing my own music in Canada, and just wanted to do something a little bit different. I started out wanting to do a tribute to the '70s. I was a teenager back then. It was when I first started listening to music.

"But when I started researching the decade, I noticed that song after song that came up was Elton John or Billy Joel who had hit after hit during those years. It seemed to me good to tie the music together for the soundtrack of the show."

And the giant screen behind completes the experience with what Witter calls the visual track.

"I sing the songs as me. There are a lot of tribute acts out there and I just let them get on with it. I just wanted to perform the music. We do stay as close to the recorded versions as possible but I don't think I sound anything like Elton. If anything, I maybe sound a little bit like Billy. I don't dress up or try to look like them."

But through the music, he suggests all that they have in common.

"We just finished a run of shows in Dubai and one of the crew members said 'I thought that their songs were so different, but when you hear an Elton song and then a Billy song and then an Elton song, there is something there.'

"I am guessing that Billy Joel, who came along a few years later, was a little bit influenced by Elton John."

Back home, Witter, on his first UK tour, is a well-known country music and contemporary Christian performer, whose records include All My Life and Forgiveness.

He has had numerous awards and nominations from the Canadian Country Music Association, the Juno Awards and, most recently, the Dove Awards in Nashville, where he was nominated for Inspirational Album of the Year.