Scottish pop soul singer Paolo Nutini follows his recent sold-out North American headlining tour with a second batch of dates that includes a stop at 'The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien,' Sept. 10, to perform his hit single, 'Candy.' While this tour, in support of his new album, 'Sunny Side Up,' has plenty of memories for Nutini, it was on a previous trek that he got to watch one of his heroes, Rod Stewart. With a similar soulful, gravelly voice Stewart was obviously influential on Nutini, but the younger singer says it's the fellow Scot's laddish attitude he admires most.

"Out of everybody that you look at and take a few lessons from, I don't think he was a bad man to do it from," Nutini tells Spinner. "Seems like he had a way that he wanted to go through life and he did it. That's something worth respecting. You can't argue with that."

Nutini also has a good laugh while discussing Stewart's '70s disco 'Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?' period and some questionable fashion choices. "There were a few leopard skin moments that I hope I don't go to," he says, referring to a particularly dodgy pair of tight animal print pants Stewart once sported. "I hope I don't find whatever drug it was that persuaded him to go out and dress like that."

The younger singer then comes up with a possible reason for it. "Maybe it was okay, ya know. I've got Britt Ekland on my arm and I'm a good looking frontman of a wicked rock band," he riffs, referring to Stewart's former band, the Faces. "F--- it, I can do whatever I want."