‘The highs and the lows’ is no cliche when applied to Russell Watson.

His rise from Salford lad singing in working men’s clubs to becoming one of the world’s most prominent tenors, selling more than seven million albums worldwide, is the stuff of dreams and movie plots.

On the other hand, his well-publicised serious illness – a benign tumour in the pituitary gland, which sits behind the nose, that led to emergency surgery in 2007 – was the stuff of nightmares.

Thankfully, Russell, who got engaged to girlfriend Louise Harris last year, is in a happier phase of life now. Celebrating 15 years as a recording artist with a new tour, he has also got a new approach to getting close to the fans who’ve stuck by him in the tough times.

“In the last 15 years I’ve sung everywhere from Manchester’s MEN Arena to the Royal Albert Hall, they are hardly intimate venues,” said Russell, who brings his Up Close and Personal tour to two Kent venues.

“Recently I saw a performance on Sky Arts of Pavarotti in Barcelona; there he with just a piano and the place went crazy! I like the concept of a classical voice and a pianist, so we tried it out and it’s gone well. It’s a more personalised link with the audience and the fans.”

Russell, often known simply as ‘The Voice’, puts part of this idea down to the feedback he gets from fans via social media.

“We’ve started to use it as a tool to find what my fans want from me. My fanbase is a more mature fanbase,” he says, so his team have learned that a lady in later life might not fancy the idea of travelling home from a city-centre arena late at night and have responded accordingly.

“We decided to take my show to the more provincial areas,” he explains.

“On a UK tour, I’d usually visit 20-25 of the major cities, this time it’s over 70 concerts.”

It’s not only the accessibility that Russell has brought back to grass roots for this tour but some of his song choices, too.

“I’m not one for buying too much into nostalgia, I like to live in the moment and create and move forward but it happens that this is my 15th year as a recording artist. It’s also my 25th anniversary as a performer.

I started out in backstreet, smoky working men’s clubs in 1990, so it is a kind of trip down memory lane from that perspective; some of my best-known repertoire and some I’ve not sung for a good few years, like Nessun Dorma,” says Russell, 48.

“The problem with Nessun Dorma is that I got to a point where I’d been singing it for 20 years and I almost wasn’t doing it justice any more, so I gave it a rest. But I’m bringing it back, I’ve got a renewed passion for it.

He adds: “I get a real kick out of singing the big, strong classical arias because I’m aware of the technicalities; I like to sing the arias well,” says Russell.

An Intimate Evening with Russell Watson - Up Close and Personal is at the Assembly Hall Theatre in Tunbridge Wells on Saturday, May 30 at 7pm. Tickets cost from £35. Visit www.assemblyhalltheatre.co.uk or call 01892 530613.