With each year that passed since Vanessa Amorosi released her quadruple-platinum debut album The Power in 2000, the chorus grew louder: where the bloody hell is she?

In the singer's absence from the spotlight, rumours abounded. At one point, there were reports she'd quit the celebrity life...to build fences.

"I was like 'what the hell?" she recalls. "At that time, I had a boyfriend who was a fencer. One day I dropped him off some lunch and ended up hanging around at his work for a little bit, and from there it became, 'Oh my God, it's Vanessa Amorosi, she's building a fence!'"

"A fence would be so crap if I was building it!"

In reality, Amorosi never left the music industry. She wrote, played and produced constantly, but kept a low profile.

Record company mismanagement played a part in her absence from the charts. The Power was followed by a disjointed odds and ends collection and an album that was released only in Germany, David Hasselhoff-style. Stretching fans' patience to the limit, her (now former) record company even issued a greatest hits album in 2005, despite Amorosi having only released five Australian singles.

Today, she seems surprisingly good-natured about it all ("To have a greatest hits after one album? I found it quite funny!"), but it's clear she was in need of a fresh start.

Last year's single Kiss Your Mama! reintroduced her to the public, before top-five hit Perfect sealed the deal, helped by its epic, special-effects-laden video. It's certainly a far cry from the original Absolutely Everybody video back in the day: youtube 'Vanessa Amorosi cheap' now to bask in its full zero-budget glory.

"That was so disgusting! That was one of my worst nightmares," she says. "Even as a kid, I think I watched that clip back and went, 'oh my God, no-one can see this.'"

Despite the dodgy video, Absolutely Everybody was THE track of summer '99, remaining in the ARIA top 50 charts for over six months. Gay audiences were particularly responsive.

I ask Amorosi if she ever caught one of the numerous drag performances of the song around the traps.

"I never got to see that. I was so buried in work, so I never got to see what was going on," she sighs. "I would've loved to go watch a drag show with my songs in it. I would've got a kick out of that."

Currently in the midst of an ever-growing national tour to showcase her new album Somewhere In The Real World, fans will be pleased to know that Amorosi hasn't disowned the hits that made her famous.

"There's nothing worse than when you've followed an artist and they don't play their previous hits. The hits will be in there," she promises.

The tour, hitting Melbourne venues this weekend before traversing the country for over a month, is a grassroots venture. Surely an artist with Amorosi's reputation could afford to play a handful of key gigs in Australia's larger cities - why the decision to trek from Traralgon to Twin Towns, and everywhere in between?

"Because I get to play more," she explains. "When you start to do the bigger shows, you can't really connect. At this stage, I'd rather connect with people, before I go to a big arena where you're relating to thousands."

Amorosi's enthusiasm about the tour is apparent and she says fans will be in for a few surprises.

"It's really like a big party rather than a gig. If the audience are requesting something, or getting off on a certain style of music, then the rest of the show revolves around that."

Back in her Absolutely Everybody days, Amorosi made a show stopping appearance at the Midsumma Festival, performing on Carnival day. Any chance of a repeat performance for next year's 21st festival?

"I would love to," she says. "Gay audiences have the best appreciation for vocal ability. Whenever I sing any high notes or any ad-libs or anything difficult, they get it. I love doing [gay] gigs, because I can actually SING."

Vanessa Amorosi is currently touring nationally.
Details: www.vanessaamorosi.com

By NICK BOND