POP Idol finalist turned heart-throb Darius Danesh is set to wow the crowds at the Party in the Park.

Darius is best-known as the star who came third behind Will Young and Gareth Gates in the ITV series Pop Idol, before going on to become a music star in his own right.

His debut single Colourblind went straight to No 1 followed by his next hit Rushes, released in October 2002, which reached No 5 in the chart.

His first album, Dive In, continues to sell well and was awarded platinum status just 11 days after release.

Neil Cooper, director of the festival, said of Darius: "This is a real coup for us he is a big star with a huge fan base and we are very excited about him coming to play at Party In The Park."

The Scottish-born 24-year-old studied English at Edinburgh University and turned down a place at Oxford University because he wanted to be nearer to his family in Glasgow.

His musical career started accidentally while at university in 2000 when one of his friends made him go to a radio audition, which he won playing his guitar.

What he didn't realise was that the winner of this audition had to go onto the next stage, the first audition for the new TV series Popstars. The rest, as they say, is history