MANY people will be more used to seeing James Bourne behind a guitar on stage... but a lesser known fact is that he is a huge tennis fan.

And just like the best players on the circuit, while the Busted guitarist loves being part of a group, he can’t wait to go solo for the first time this summer.

Echo:

James Bourne shows our Chris how it's done 

The 36-year-old shot to fame with the pop band, selling more than five million records.

And, despite the group having now reformed - after a split in 2005 - James will be releasing his first solo single this summer.

“I’m doing some solo stuff for the first time now,” he said.

“I’m lucky to have the band back again which is amazing and I don’t think we will ever break up properly like we did before “But I’ve had some time to work on some other things and I’ve made my own record.

“It’s coming out in the summertime and I love music so it’s always exciting for me.

“You make something, you put it out and then you go and play it live.

“To see the reaction from the fans is pretty rewarding, it’s fun.

“I just hope people can see my new record for what it is and it’s coming out this summer.”

But James - a former Thorpe Hall School pupil - will not be turning his back on Busted.

During the Noughties, the band treated fans to four number one hits and eight top three hits before splitting in 2005.

However, James does not feel that will be repeated “The way the guillotine came down on the band in 2005, I don’t think that will ever happen again,” he said.

“I don’t know what the future holds but it’s all about the three of us. There was some strange feeling towards the band back in the day, from us as members that is. But we’ve had an amazing seven years doing it again if you include the McBusted stuff.

“It’s been a lot of arenas and with all of the summer shows it’s almost a million concert tickets.

“It’s a lot of people who have come to see it and making the music is still a big part of it.

“You want to avoid being known as a band that’s like a legacy band.”

The songwriter, who was speaking to the Echo during a tennis lesson at David Lloyd Southend, now lives in Los Angeles but he still returns home at every possible opportunity and holds happy memories from his childhood in Thorpe Bay.

He added: “It was fun and it was a nice place to grow up. I had a really nice childhood and I was lucky.

“I’ve bought a house in Los Angeles and I find it quite inspirational there. It’s easy to be creative there but I’ll always come back here because I grew up here.

“At the moment I’m spending most of my time in LA but I still have my place in London and I see my family in Thorpe Bay too.

“That’s where I’m staying at the moment. I like to see the friends I still have in the neighbourhood.

“I’ll catch up with them, see my family and catch up with the people I always hang out with.”

And he is also keen to play tennis whenever he can.

“I don’t get time to play much now as you can probably tell,” the guitarist laughs.

“But in the school term I would play every weekend.

“I’d play Saturday morning and Sunday afternoon and in the summer holidays I would play every day. I lived opposite Thorpe Bay Lawn and I have some fond memories and some very good friends there.”