I’VE always thought you can tell a lot about somebody by their mobile phone ring- tone.

Whether it’s the latest top-10 chartbuster (fickle), the drone of the Nokia ringtone (unimaginative, or can’t work out how to change it), or the tinny tfft- tfft-tfft of the silent (fear of making a statement), I judge people as much by the music that heralds their phone calls as by the shopping in their Tesco trolley.

Thankfully, Ian Broudie doesn’t disappoint. As we sit down in the Malmaison, Love Me Do springs into life. It’s his son, Riley – the inspiration for the song, The Life of Riley.

"Growing up, The Beatles were everything I knew," says Ian, 50. Born in Penny Lane and brought up on Menlove Avenue, the childhood home of John Lennon, it’s easy to see why. An exiled Scouser these days, he still clearly loves his hometown.

"Everything I am or have ever been is because of where I grew up," he says. "Looking back to the early days, and to Liverpool then, I was in the right place at the right time."

Despite his natural modesty, Broudie, who plays the Phil as part of this year’s Summer Pops festival, is one of the most talented musicians of his generation.

Starting out in Liverpool’s fledgling punk scene with Big in Japan, which also featured Holly Johnson and Bill Drummond, he went on to produce Echo and the Bunnymen, The Pale Fountains, Shack, The Icicle Works, Ellery Bop and The Fall, under the name Kingbird.

Eventually, he put together the Lightning Seeds, a "group" with just one member. This was an experiment of his "to see if I could cut it as a muso".

He could indeed, winning fans around the world with Life of Riley, Pure and Sugar Coated Iceberg, not to mention football anthem Three Lions.

In the years that followed, he went back to producing – launching some of the city’s top bands, and helping to continue Liverpool’s reputation as a major musical force.