Prodigy's Keith Flint declared himself a big fan. Gary Barlow says, "he was my reason for getting into the business. The man is a God." Britain's most infamous tabloid, The Sun, chimes in with, "The legend is reinstated for a whole new generation."

I caught up by phone recently with the target of all this adoration, Leo Sayer, to find out just why and how all this new buzz came about, and to find out his plans for the future.

So why all the new interest Leo -- and what's The Sun got to do with it all?

[Laughs] "They came to a gig I did at the Cafe Royal in London almost two years ago now. I guess they went along for a bit of a laugh you know, as tabloid newspapers are inclined to do. And anyway they came away impressed and really kind of said, 'this is ridiculous, you should be up there with Elton. How'd we lose you? We're gonna do a campaign to make sure people know about you again.'

"I also did a few appearances on a very hip comedy show here in the U.K. called 'Shooting Stars,' and the whole thing kind of ricocheted across the industry, and now here we are. I'm loving every moment of it."

You've just come off a U.K. tour. What were the audiences like?

"Very successful -- very good. These days I play lots of small places and clubs, which is great for me, because the club scene is so much more current and trendy -- you tend to get really young audiences. And this is now filtering through to when I play the bigger concert venues.

"Over the last few years the concert audience would have been more the kind of diehards, the older fans. But the club scene has influenced all these younger kids to come in. And maybe also the kind of media attention that I've gotten over here has helped, with this general rediscovery of the '70s -- which suits me very much, because it means the kids are listening to '70s music again."

What about your voice, has your voice changed much over the years?

"If anything it's gotten stronger. I mean it's a bit like Eric Clapton with the guitar. I think, arguably, he's a better player than he was, you know, years ago. The more you do it, the more licks you're gonna learn. I've never adhered to this idea that rock is only a young man's profession. It's rubbish!

"It's something like -- why not -- you know you can get better and better.

"I had a shock not that long ago when I turned on a satellite channel from Germany and it was Ray Charles, and my God, did he sound good. What is he, he's in his 60s, or something like that?

"If the fire is still there, that's what matters. The main thing is the fire. As long as you're still hungry -- and that's what I find drives me on. I can't just go through the motions. I mean, take 'When I Need You,' people come up to me and say how can you sing that millions of times, night after night?

"But I'm still thinking maybe there's a better way to sing it or to communicate something new in it, or maybe I could do this or that a little better, you know. And get something better out of the players in the band."

You're in the studio right now. What are you working on? A new album?

"Well, apart from getting ready for the Australian tour at the end of August there's kind of two or three different projects. Number one is: We recorded the U.K. shows for a live album. We're rushing to get it mixed in time, so that we should have a live album ready and we're gonna bring it with us to the venues in Australia to sell. The band sounded so great, I said, 'Right, record it!' It's one of those nice things, you know, because I've never done a live album before. But I think we've got it now. I've got to take it down to Australia because it will be a nice souvenir for the people to have.

"There's so many other projects. I'll be guesting with a couple of different dance artists, one called Surf Baby. The way the dance scene is now everybody does one unique song. So probably Surf Baby will only ever release this one record. Everything is invented specially for these projects and I'm the guest singer. It's really great to be involved.

"Then I'm working on a bunch of new songs for an album. But that won't be ready before the end of the year."

What's the style of the music at the moment?

"I'd like to think it's all going to be song based, because I am a songwriter in the classic sense. But I'd also like to think it will sound contemporary, with shades of, dare I say, The Cardigans or The Corrs, or Alanis Morrisette or even Radiohead in there. It depends on what you listen to, really. I'm not the type to dig out old Eagles or Beatles albums, I tend to listen to what's happening now and enjoy that.

"Also I'm doing a lot of other writing. I'm working on some material for a group over here called B'witched. [Laughs] It's an interesting project to try to get inside the heads of a bunch of 17-year-old girls, but great fun. I've also done nearly an album's worth of material with Albert Hammond, who is a great songwriter. One of those songs, 'Find Your Heaven,' is featured in the live show. I'm just nonstop, but I'm really enjoying it. The way the U.K. tour has gone has really inspired me, and the way the band has played has been brilliant. That's why I'm thinking I'd better get some new material out there soon.

And what about Japan. Any plans to do a tour there?

"I would really like to. I love Japan. It's a question of finding the right promoter. But I would love to go there next year when I've got the new material out. I've changed management recently, so it's really a matter of looking at the possibilities and getting something organized."