Country star Nathan Carter talks ahead of Birmingham show

Nathan Carter is the good-looking Country and Irish star who has enjoyed three No1 albums and is the man all the girls would love to catch.

Girls slip him their number after shows. And yet the star thinks he's too busy for love. He spends so much time on the road he isn't ready to settle down.

"I don't know if anyone would put up with me as I never seem to get a day off and am constantly on the road," he laughs. But there is still hope ladies, as he adds: "I'm always looking, though."

For a while, the 26-year-old dated country singer Lisa McHugh. But the pressures of work meant it was hard to keep things going.

"We did go out for a while at the start, but I moved to Enniskillen and she got the band on the road. It was difficult keeping our relationship going.

"It's definitely a downside but I'm not depressed about it. I'm having a ball, but in this business if there's any casualties it brings, well that's it. You'll find the most divorces in any business is in the music business. There wouldn't be girls asking me back to their rooms, but girls would come up to shake my hand and there'd be a slip of paper in there with their number. If the right girl came along it wouldn't make a difference to me if she was a fan – the right one's the right one. I've come close but not just the whole hog just yet. I'm always looking."

The clean cut, handsome star has enjoyed huge success, selling out venues across Ireland, Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.

He's back on the road at present and will play Birmingham's New Alexandra Theatre tomorrow before returning to the region to star at Cannock's Prince of Wales Theatre on May 25. In Ireland, he's become such a big star that he outsold One Direction and Michael Buble to enjoy a No1 album. And yet his is a slow-burn career. He's not enjoyed a rags-to-riches rise. He's worked hard for his success and continues to put in the hard yards. "It has been a gradual process for me," he admits. "I look at shows like the X Factor and think it must be very hard for the winners who are propelled into the limelight overnight.

"For me, I started at 16 playing in pubs and clubs to no-one and then with the band at 19 gradually built it up and it's only in the last couple of years that we have done a lot better.

"I remember a night when there was no-one in the audience and that helps you to appreciate what you have."

He started playing the accordion at the age of four and later became a head chorister in his home city with the Liverpool boys' choir, touring the world, and singing for Pope John Paul II in Rome. He spent summers in Ireland and later became a member of the Liverpool Ceili Band, playing piano accordion and piano.

He adds: "I've been singing since the age of three. There is a video of me singing Are You Lonesome Tonight which my grandad taught me. It was his favourite song.

"Mum and dad aren't musical but my nan and her nine brothers and sisters all played instruments and sang.

"Whenever the family is together there is dancing and music."

By Andy Richardson