SAD Café not only lost a frontman, but a good friend too, when singer Paul Young died in July 2000.

Many fans thought that his death would spell the end for the rock band...and it did for more than a decade.

But Warrington’s founding member Ian Wilson reformed the group in November last year with three of his band mates sharing his singing duties.

Drummer Dave Irving said: “Paul was irreplaceable so we didn’t want to go down the route of having a replacement singer.”

Ian added: “We’ve not tried to replace Paul, but present the music in a much broader way.

“We were quite nervous about it at first, but quite surprised because there were people coming up to us on the first tour we did saying we’d made their year.

“When Paul died they all thought that’s it. Sad Café is over and they’ll never hear this music played live again.

“So it was quite humbling to realise there was the need for the music to be out there.”

Ian, guitarist Steve Whalley, keyboardist Sue Quin and lead guitarist Ashley Mulford, from Denmark, all join in on the vocals.

Ian said: “Ashley never used to sing much in the band so he’s been quite a revelation. He’s matured into a really good singer.”

Bassist Des Tong, who attended Mick Hucknall’s school Audenshaw Grammar, added: “To me it also proved there were six other people in the band and the music stands up without it being led by one person.”

Sad Café got to pay tribute to Paul, who was also in Mike + The Mechanics, by reuniting to work on the ‘Paul Young – Chronicles’ album in Gothenburg, Sweden shortly after his death.

Ian said: “The first time hearing it, I found it extremely difficult. It was emotional and brought back a lot of sad memories.

“But once I got over that, I really enjoyed it because I got a chance to sing with one of the greatest singers in the country.”

So the band will be continuing in Paul’s memory with a date at Parr Hall on Friday, October 4.

Expect the hits like Every Day Hurts, Strange Little Girl, My Oh My, I’m In Love Again and many others from their 35-year catalogue.

“The songs mean so much to people,” said Sue, who has lived in Appleton for 30 years and used to teach music at Warrington Collegiate.

“They’ve grown up with them and the response has been amazing and this time they’re bringing their children with them so we’ve got a new generation of fans.”

The seven-piece band got their name completely by chance when they were under pressure from their booking agent.

Ian added: “When we first started we didn’t have a name and a bunch of gigs to do.

“Various ideas were bandied around. Urban Gorilla was one of them and it didn’t go down very well.

“The girl booking the shows in the agency was reading a book called the Ballad of the Sad Café by Carson McCullers.

“She just said you’ve got to have a name. We said Sad Café and it stuck.”