AS HE prepared for yet another sell-out show at the Ipswich Regent, Irish superstar Daniel O'Donnell took time out to speak to The Evening Star and thank the thousands of fans who make his trips to Suffolk so special.

AS HE prepared for yet another sell-out show at the Ipswich Regent, Irish superstar Daniel O'Donnell took time out to speak to The Evening Star and thank the thousands of fans who make his trips to

Suffolk so special.

As he read the messages in last night's Star he explained his close bond with the fans who have followed his career so closely over the last 20 years.

“This is wonderful. The people are so kind,” he said as he read the messages. “I think it is very important to remain in contact with the fans.

“They are the people who allow me to do this, and it is wonderful to be able to perform like this.”

We called on him in the newly-refurbished dressing rooms at the Regent as he was looking through more letters from fans.

“I try to read them all - it isn't always possible - and I try to reply to as many as I can but again there is sometimes just too many.

“But someone sees all of them and we do try to reply whenever possible.”

Daniel also liked the double-page poster we had printed of him. “I'm flattered. It's very nice and I hope the fans like it,” he said.

His clean-cut image is something that many people find attractive about the committed Christian from Donegal.

He has a simple reply when asked if he ever wants to do anything wild. He said: “Do you? I'm just an ordinary chap who likes to do ordinary things. I'm not a wild man!”

He might not be wild - but he's certainly keen on travelling. That's just as well - the rest of 2006 is mapped out with tours of Britain, America, New Zealand, Australia, and back to Britain and Ireland on the agenda.

“We don't tour all the time, there are breaks - there have to be - but it's a life I love.

“And it's always nice coming back to Ipswich. I've been coming here for 20 years, I started by coming to the Corn Exchange.

“This time things are a bit different here - the theatre has done up the dressing rooms and they are very nice indeed. I'm having a lovely time here.”