MY SIX BEST ALBUMS

SHANE RICHIE, 53, is best known as Alfie Moon in EastEnders. He had a No 2 hit, I’m Your Man, in 2003 and his album A Country Soul is out now.

DEAN FRIEDMAN: ‘Well, Well,’ Said The Rocking Chair (CD Baby) I remember hearing the title track on the radio. Lyrically I thought it was so out there, talking to furniture, though it was more about being on your own.

I was really into words and Dean is a wordsmith. To this day, I have a man-crush on him.

STYLE COUNCIL: Café Bleu (Polydor) Paul Weller tapped into that white-boy soul thing. He was rapping then he’d do a bit of sweet song then there was an instrumental. It was my introduction to jazz as well.

My band learned to play Headstart For Happiness from this years ago.

HOOTIE & THE BLOWFISH: Cracked Rear View (Warner) I was on tour in the States in the early Nineties and this band was played on every radio station.

I brought the album back to the UK and told people to listen to Darius Rucker’s voice. Although it was pop-rock, it had a country undercurrent. I covered the track Goodbye on my album.

BABYFACE: The Day (Epic) This is the heart of R&B and soul for me. As a songwriter, he could reduce you to tears. I played this to death. There’s a track called The Day (That You Gave Me A Son), where he talks about becoming a father for the first time, which is beautiful.

BILLY JOEL: An Innocent Man (Sony) I loved the throwback to Fifties’ doo-wop on the album. I was working in Jersey as a stand-up comic with a band so took any opportunity to sing these songs in pubs and hotels. I went to see him last year and was mesmerised by his showmanship.

GREGORY PORTER: Liquid Spirit (Decca) I first heard him on the Robert Elms show when I was doing EastEnders. I thought, “If there is a God, this is what he sounds like.”

I persuaded producers to let us play one of his songs on the jukebox in the Queen Vic. He heard it and we got pally. I saw him at the Royal Albert Hall and sat there drooling.