EXTRAORDINARILY talented singer-songwriter-guitarist and all round decent bloke Nick Harper has always been the kind of musician who goes the extra mile... even when it is straight up.

So - although impressed - no one seems much surprised to find this troubadour in the Guinness Book of Records for playing the world's highest gig at the Everest base camp 18,500ft above sea level - the equivalent of three miles in the sky.

That was last year. Now he's donning his trekking boots again in aid of Love Hope Strength, the cancer foundation set up by Mike Peters of rock band The Alarm.

That gig, in October, will take him and fellow musicians on a 10-day mission to Machu Picchu, Peru's lost Incan city, followed by an acoustic concert in Lima in aid of local cancer hospitals in Peru.

But next month Nick will be playing a slightly more down to earth gig - geographically anyway - at the Boscombe Community Fair.

A brilliant guitarist and witty and ascerbic lyricist, he's a musician in much demand.

He recently played in session with hip hop artist Dizzee Rascal and Calvin Harris on Jo Whiley's Radio 1 show, as well as with classical guitarist Craig Ogdon for Charles Hazlewood on Radio 2.

In the past he has worked with the likes of the Levellers, Jimmy Page, Squeeze and his father, celebrated folk artist Roy Harper.

He is dubbed "the human jukebox" for his ability to cover songs from pop to punk, folk to funk, off the top of his head.

But Nick's unique style, distinctively soulful voice and passionate delivery combine for a live performance that is at once spontaneous, enthralling and emotionally-charged.

He is currently completing a raft of summer festival dates and, on September 27, will be at the Royal Albert Hall as special guest of long-time folk/punk chums, The Levellers.

It will be a return visit for Nick. For when he was just seven years old he sat on his father's knee on the Albert Hall stage and sang along to Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's Our House.

This time he will be performing a dozen or so of his own songs, including material from his forthcoming new album, which is set for an early 2009 release.

  • Boscombe Community Fair runs from September 5-7.