LIKE his stage alter ego, Clive John’s early life was beset with strife. And like the Man in Black he came out the other side, singing.

When he lost his voice at the age of two, following a traumatic accident which saw him severely burn his hands on an electric heater little led to predict he would one day tour the country’s major theatres playing the likeness of the legendary country singer in the Johnny Cash Roadshow.

After enduring months of skin grafts and reconstructive surgery, he recovered his voice, albeit with a slight stammer he would tussle with for the rest of his life.

At the age of four, a surgeon recommended he learn to play the piano to keep his fingers supple. Music was his salvation.

“I lost my voice completely for two or three years,” he recalls. “The stammer was a side effect when I got it back after the shock; but over the years it has faded more and more. Music helped me. When I started playing the piano and singing everything changed. You use a different part of your brain when you sing and it was a lot easier for me than speaking. I learnt to play the guitar when I was about six. As far as I can remember I was always singing as a child.”

A prolific singer-songwriter in his own right, he was signed to a record company Stateside at the age of 24. Disillusioned by his time in North America, he returned to England where he continued to perform his own material with his friend, roadie and altogether right-hand man Chris in tow.

One day ten years ago, Chris handed him a compilation of Johnny Cash’s greatest hits suggesting Clive draw inspiration from the performer’s raw expressive melodies.

Six months later Chris died of a brain tumour. This prompted Clive to pursue his education and eventually star in his own Johnny Cash tribute act.

The modest production steadily grew into the acclaimed Johnny Cash Roadshow, which retraces the rebellious singer’s career through his soulful ballads, blues riffs and lesser known tracks – all accompanied by a life-like June Carter and The Carter Sisters.

“It suited my voice and attitude and Chris said I should learn a few his songs. He passed away and I saw it as a sign that I should do something more with this. I got a band together and we did our first Johnny Cash tribute night back at the Mars Bar in Worcester. The excitement in the room was awesome. The film had just come out and it grew and grew. We’ve been touring the biggest theatres in the UK for about six years.”

While Clive has been hailed as his idol’s Doppelganger thanks to his uncanny Cash-like husky burr, features and mannerisms, he is keen not to fall into pure imitation. The roadshow, he insists, is not a tribute but a spectacle in its own right, with some creative licence here and there.

“It is a celebration of Johnny Cash, the man he was and the music. I try to capture the essence of what it would be like to be at one of his shows in the late 1950s. I don’t deliberately try to copy him – I combine my own natural voice with Johnny Cash’s inflection. It’s not an impersonation. “

That said, Johnny Cash’s granddaughter Caitlin Crowell was so utterly astounded by his resemblance with her late grandfather she endorsed the show, one surreal night in the Mancunian wilderness, of all places. But not before Clive had ascertained she was not an impostor –she was suspiciously far from home - but a true blood relative.

“Just before the show, the manager of the venue we were in came to the dressing room and said a lady in her early 30s was in the box office saying she was Johnny Cash’s granddaughter and that she wanted complimentary tickets. She thought I was an idiot,” he adds with a chuckle. “But sure enough I met her at the interval and she was his granddaughter. It turned out her boyfriend lived near Manchester. When she saw me she said in this Southern drawl, ‘Oh my god you look like my grandpa’. And she gave us the endorsement. We were over the moon. It doesn’t get better than that.”

The Johnny Cash Roadshow will come to the Wyvern Theatre on September 13 at 7.30pm. Tickets are £20. To book call 01793 524481 or go to swindontheatres.co.uk.