JON Lee is hoping that the weather gods will be kinder to him on Sunday when he steps on to the stage for the spectacular final concert at the Lytham Festival than they were last year.

Then gale force winds and a torrential downpour forced the classical spectacular to be abandoned.

“Oh, it was such a shame,” said the pop star turned West End leading man. “I think we’d got about two songs into the show when someone came on stage and said ‘I’m sorry but we’re going to have to stop’. I think it came as a relief to the crowd who were huddled up in blankets and waterproofs.

“But now we’re getting the chance to do it all again and there have been a few tweaks to make it even better.”

Jon will be part of the West End Proms which will feature Lea Salonga, Collabro, Ruthie Henshall, Claire Sweeney, Jodie Prenger and Marti Pellow accompanied by the 60-piece Heart of England Philharmonic Orchestra.

“Shows of this kind of scale don’t really happen that often any more.” said Jon, “particularly with a large orchestra. So when it does happen it’s very special indeed both for the audience and the performers.”

Jon has gone from being a chart topper with teen favourites S Club 7 to starring in hit musicals including Les Miserables and Jersey Boys. He has also released a solo album and has set up his own production company.

For Lytham he ruled out throwing in an S Club hit for good measure into his set.

“If I did Don’t Stop Moving, I think people would probably get up and leave,” he laughed. “It’s the wrong crowd for that.

“I’ll probably be doing something from Jersey Boys although the set is not completely finalised. I will also be doing something from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat too and there will be one or two duets dotted in through the show.

“You only get the chance to do a run through on the day of the concert before everyone is let into the festival, That’s the first time you get to sing with the orchestra so it’s quite a challenge.”

Although he has moved on from a pop career, Jon still has fond memories of his time with S Club 7.

“S Club was the biggest achievement in my career,” he said. “I will never get anything that was that big and that international under my belt ever again I wouldn’t imagine.

“It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I love that people still remember it some 20 years later. I’m extremely proud of it.”

But Jon is now equally at home as a musical star

“I love this lifestyle,” he said. “I get to go on stage for two hours and do what I love, that is my passion. I get to be someone else and at the end of it, get to walk out of the stage door, get in my car and go home and have as normal a life as I can.

“I have been very fortunate to be able to look at shows and think ‘what do I want to do?’ and wait for the auditions to come around.

“I am lucky that I can pick and choose what shows I go for. Sometimes you will go for a role and not get it but you just dust yourself down and go for the next one – that’s how our industry is.

“I’ve also got my own production company which I started a few years ago and we source and create acts for corporate and private events. That’s been going pretty well for the last couple of years or so.”

Jon revealed that this year he will finally be able to have a Christmas at home.

“I’ve decided that I’m not going to do panto and take Christmas off for the first time in 15 years,” he said. “It will be the first time I’ll get to put a tree up in my flat.

“When I was younger I was fiercely ambitious and I’m fortunate that I managed to tick off pretty much all I wanted to do when I was ambitious and hungry.

“As you get older that ambition and hunger fades away a little bit and your priorities change.

“I’m much happier enjoying my life and spending my time with my family.”

West End Proms, Lytham Festival, Sunday, August 6. Tonight it’s Hacienda Classical, 80s v 90s tomorrow and on Saturday it’s the turn of Madness. Details from www.lythamfestival.com