One minute you're a has-been struggling to get a gig, the next you're a much-loved national treasure. So it's proved for Tony Christie.

Three years ago he was in the middle of a rare UK tour when Peter Kay released a tongue-in-cheek video for Comic Relief miming to Christie's 1971 hit, Is This The Way To Amarillo?

The original song was hastily re-released spending seven weeks at number one, followed hot on its heels by The Definitive Tony Christie which topped the album charts. Suddenly, Christie was back in demand as audiences up and down the land flocked to take a trip down easy listening lane.

But Christie, now 65, is more than just a cheesy crooner, as his latest (and possibly best) album, Made In Sheffield, goes to show.

Produced by lifelong Christie fans, Richard Hawley and Colin Elliot, Made in Sheffield is a paean to the city where Christie grew up, and includes new recordings of songs by some of the city's most revered artists, including The Human League, Jarvis Cocker and the Arctic Monkeys.

Christie, who was brought up in Conisbrough, in South Yorkshire, says it all came about when he heard one of Richard Hawley's songs on the radio. "I'd been working on a different project and we were driving home after a session and Coles Corner came on. I thought it was great and I said to my son, 'what great production, that's the sort of thing I should be doing,' – and he said Richard sent me that song three
years ago."

Undeterred, he arranged to meet Hawley to ask if he would help produce a new version of the song. "We met up and he told me he was a big fan of mine and had all my records, which I had no idea about. When I asked if he would help produce a single he said, 'why not do a whole album?'"

The idea was to make a record celebrating Sheffield's musical heritage, using songs written by artists from the city. "We are a proud community and the singers and bands that have hailed from Sheffield are some
of the most successful in pop history, the city has always produced exciting, innovative music," he says.

"When we started listening we were amazed not only at how many songs there were, but the quality just blew us away. Some of the songs on the album are by completely unknown writers and might possibly have never seen the light of day." It has given voice to lesser-known songwriters like Martin Bragger whose songs Danger Is a Woman In Love and Paradise Square, sit alongside such recognised tracks as Louise, by The Human League, and Christie's long-awaited cover of Coles Corner.

The album was recorded in the Yellow Arch Studios, a converted engineering factory surrounded by warehouses. "There was a lot of noise, we'd be in the middle of recording and we'd have to keep stopping because you could hear a forklift truck lifting a pallet, or grinding machines and saws – but this is the steel city so it's perhaps not surprising." With Hawley at the helm, the end result is a beautifully-crafted tapestry that allows Christie's vocals to soar throughout.

It is on a par with the best of Hawley's own work, and yet Christie wasn't sure how it would be received.

"In the back of my mind I was thinking what other people would make of it, because I know I've got a reputation for being a bit cheesy. But I've been shocked by the number of people who've come up to me and said they really like it," he says.

The first track on the album is a cover of The Only Ones Who Know, by the Arctic Monkeys, although Christie admits he found it difficult to choose a suitable track. "I wasn't sure there was a song I could give my own stamp to because there's no point covering a song unless
you're going to do something different. But then Richard (Hawley] played this to me and we thought we could change the tempo," he says.

"I was sat with Alex Turner at the Q awards and he said to me, 'I wish we'd recorded that version. I must have played it 40 times', which was such a great thing to say."

In many ways Christie has come full circle. He started out in the early '60s doing an Everly Brothers routine with a school friend, and now he's enjoying a musical renaissance with his best record in more than 30 years. "These songs aren't fashionable, we just went for quality and I'm really proud of it.

"Hopefully I've got plenty of albums left in me, but if I never do anything else again, this will do me as a legacy."

Tony Christie's album Made in Sheffield is released on November 10.

FROM YORKSHIRE TO AMARILLO

Tony was born Anthony Fitzgerald in Conisbrough, South Yorkshire, in 1943.

He and a schoolfriend formed a duo called The Grant Brothers playing gigs in Yorkshire's working men's clubs.

In 1965 he changed his name to Tony Christie after watching the film Darling – "I was smitten with Julie Christie."

A year later he went solo, the high point coming in 1971 when I Did What I Did For Maria reached number 2 in the charts.

By the early '80s the demise of the British club circuit forced him to move abroad.

In 1999 Jarvis Cocker sent him a song called Walk Like A Panther which became a top 10 hit.

In 2005 (Is This the Way To) Amarillo? is re-released and storms to number one where it remained for seven weeks.

November 2008, Made In Sheffield is released.