WHEN Ipswich welcomes Rod Stewart next week, it will be welcoming one of the biggest stars of the music industry.After months of waiting, the concert of the year is now less than a week away and thousands of fans are gearing up to see the star arrive in town.

WHEN Ipswich welcomes Rod Stewart next week, it will be welcoming one of the biggest stars of the music industry.

After months of waiting, the concert of the year is now less than a week away and thousands of fans are gearing up to see the star arrive in town.

Newly-wed Rod, who married long-time girlfriend Penny Lancaster earlier this month, announced he would be performing at Portman Road late last year.

The 62-year-old has chosen Suffolk as one of a select few towns and cities where he will perform this summer.

Since making the announcement Stewart has been made a CBE, after being chosen in the Queen's birthday honours.

The veteran singer - who has chalked up six number one hits and 24 records that made the top 10 in a career spanning five decades - was among several big name stars to be honoured at the New Year.

After starting out in music with a band called The Faces, Rod decided to go solo and released his first two albums - The Rod Stewart Album in 1969 and Gasoline Alley in 1970.

He found fame in 1971 with the release of first solo single Every Picture Tells a Story and the smash hit

Maggie May - both of which took the Number 1 spot in the US and the UK simultaneously, a chart first.

Since then he has notched up an impressive array of hit singles, has released 35 albums and the hugely-successful Great American Songbook series has become the biggest-selling on-going collection of new

music recordings in history.

Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994, he is recognised as among the best singers in the world.

The hit Maggie May was followed by songs such as Tonight's The Night, Do Ya Think I'm Sexy, Young Turks, Forever Young, Sailing and Downtown.

After the four volumes of the Great American Songbook, Rod released a new album this year called

Still The Same … Great Rock Classics Of Our Time.

His appearance on July 3 will be the second time Rod has appeared at Portman Road and will come 16

years after the first and around 24,000 people are expected to be there for the big event.

ROD Stewart performing in Ipswich is yet another big-name concert for Portman Road, and to mark the occasion, the Evening Star can offer our readers an exclusive competition that could give you the chance to meet the man himself.

We are offering one lucky reader and a friend the chance to win a pair of tickets to the concert and the chance to go backstage and meet Rod Stewart before the music gets underway.

The winner will be able to chat to the star, have time to get an autograph and their photo taken with him before being taken back into the stadium to watch the concert.

To be in with a chance of winning, all you have to do is answer the following question:

In what year did Rod Stewart release his first solo album?

Send your answer, by Monday, to Rod Stewart Competition, c/o Helen Johns, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, Suffolk, IP4 1AN.

All entries must include a daytime telephone number and the winner will be contacted on Monday.