Idris Elba, 40, must surely love music…Despite his huge success with movies, the multiple-award winning actor of Ghana & Sierra Leone parentage has announced he is taking a year away from acting to focus on music.

Hackney-born Elba has already released material as a hip-hop artist and DJs under the name Driis. But this time, he is determined to make it big in the music world.

Elba, who is topped to replace Daniel Craig as the next James Bond, recently took up a weekly residency DJing at a Kilburn nightclub in London.

“This year, I’m not going to work as an actor and I’m going to put my mind into music,” he said. “It’s a progression thing with me. I want to make music but I don’t want to shove it down people’s throats. People are just barely getting to know me as an actor. But I do it from the heart, I’m not doing it for money — I just enjoy doing it.

“I’ve been asked to do lots of collaborations. I did something with Milk, which is a great band and an odd collaboration, I’ve done stuff with Jay-Z on his album American Gangster, so there’s bits and pieces that I’m just going to keep moving forward with.”

Idris Elba who is based in the States has returned to London to get behind the decks at Kilburn club Love & Liquor every Friday night and is halfway through a seven-week residency.