LISA Stansfield is in a good mood - and she has every right to be.

Next week she releases her first album for four years, Deeper, and then sets out on a full UK tour.

Always an entertaining interviewee, there’s a extra sparkle to the conversation as she reveals: “I’m so excited about everything right now. It’s like I’m really going for it - there’s no stopping me.”

On Deeper, Lisa is credited as being executive producer working with husband and songwriting partner Ian Devaney and Mark Cotgrove.

“We never have vision of what an album’s going to be like when we go in to studio. You always have existing songs or parts of songs and I think we maybe had about five ideas to start off with. You write them down and work on them because you have to start somewhere and maybe two of those will be stronger compared to the other.

“Then we’ll do another set of songs where one or two more might come through and gradually you can see a pattern start to emerge and things start to make sense.

“It’s like solving a Rubik’s cube. You’ve got all the ingredients, you just have to put them all in the right places.”

The album is a wonderful blend of soul and funk allowing Lisa’s voice to shine through.

“It was just lovely sitting down at the end of it all and going to London and doing the final cut for the album,” she said.

“There was just me, Ian and Mark sat in the cutting room listening to it and it was exactly what we wanted. We’re ready to let it go now.”

Lisa Stansfield became a star almost overnight when her debut album Affection was released in 1989. The album included the single All Around the World which topped the charts and led to various award nominations.

Now 51, Lisa retains her strong Rochdale accent and her keen sense of humour. But there’s also a maturity and a confidence of a performer at the peak of her powers.

“When you put out an album out you are concerned about it,” she said. "It’s like your little baby.

“But then you see it doing its own thing, you know it’s going to be all right.

“I think this album might just have legs,” she said with a mischievous grin.

Working as closely as Lisa does with husband Ian would not be an ideal scenario for many couples.

“We’ve been doing it for a long time,” she said. “I was 18 when we started the band so we were working together for five years before we actually got together, so we were very good friends.

“When we did finally get together, we had done all those things in front of each other that normally when you become a couple it takes you a really long time to go through.

“All of that was out of the way so we didn’t have to worry about it. We just had the love and soppy bits to do and we found that quite easy!”

Lisa is now getting ready to head off on the road.

“I have to say we have a very, very good band,” she said. “They are as my grandma used to say ‘as tight as a crab’s arse’.

“So to have fun on top of that isn’t a big effort. But the people who make the show are the audience. They have got the music they just have to get up and dance, we love it when they do.

“There are so many different types of people come to the gigs and they all have the same things in their hearts which is lovely. Out of the room they would not mix in the same circles or talk to each other but when they come to the show we are all on the same side – we are all in the same army.”

Deeper the new album by Lisa Stansfield is out next Friday. She plays the Lowry, Salford Quays, on Sunday, April 15. Details from 0843 208 6000 or www.thelowry.com