MUSIC journalist Johnny Black has an addiction but it is not for the drugs or drink that so many of the stars of his interviews have craved but for facts.

In the basement of his home in Long Street, Devizes, are row upon row of books and files that would put many a library or museum to shame.

But luckily for other music fans Mr Black, 68, has also set up an on-line music archive that at the click of a button can give access to amazing facts about musicians of the past and present.

By going to www.musicdayz.com people can conduct a wide range of searches including the under artist's names, places they lived or what was happening on a particular date.

Mr Black said: "It has rather taken over my life. It is one of those things that will never be completed so I am always thinking about adding new information. I probably spend a couple of hours every day adding to the website. My wife, Carol, would probably say I am obsessed with it.

"I want people to know about it. It is the world’s largest online music history site and it is based in Devizes, and it includes a section devoted entirely to the history of music in Wiltshire.

"You can go directly to the Wiltshire section by clicking musicdayz.com/Topic/Wiltshire. There are about 2,000 searchable, tagged facts in the Wiltshire section, and about 144,000 in the MusicDayz site overall."

Mr Black, who grew up in the village of Roslin in Scotland, did not really know what he wanted to do for a job after leaving school but he had grown up in a house full of music and wanted to write. Aged about 16 he heard The Byrds song Turn, Turn, Turn and was hooked. So in 1976 he packed in a boring job in the civil service and moved to London to become a press officer for a record company.

Later one of the bands he looked after was the Beach Boys and he remembers flying to Los Angeles and trying to get frontman Brian Wilson, who at the time was in the depths of his drug addiction, into a fit state to be interviewed.

Mr Black said: "I remember thinking what is a young lad from Scotland doing in this realm of powerful people."