The Hoff's got a song for us (+ photos)

It's 'Baywatch' deja vu for David Hasselhoff who arrives at Mt Maunganui yesterday to greet hundreds of enthusiastic fans. Photo / Getty Images

A Baywatch comeback isn't going to happen ... but a series of music concerts in New Zealand is on the cards for David Hasselhoff.

The actor and singer known as "the Hoff" was mobbed by hundreds of Mt Maunganui beachgoers yesterday when he arrived to promote an ice-block with the Baywatch theme blaring on speakers in the background.

The 58-year-old gained worldwide fame as Los Angeles County lifeguard Mitch Buchannon in the hit 1990s TV series Baywatch.

But when he made his Lovin' Feelings album in 1986, it sold seven copies, he says.

"I bought five of 'em and some other lady bought the other two.

"It completely tanked, but it got me to New Zealand and now I'm back and this is the best welcome I have had anywhere.

"What an amazing turnout ... I am absolutely humbled by it."

Hasselhoff didn't let the Lovin' Feelings flop stop his music career, and his last big hit was the song Jump In My Car, which reached No 3 in the British charts in 2006.

Now, he says, he wants to return to New Zealand this year for a series of concerts.

"Next thing I'll be doing is David Hasselhoff the musical. I mean, why not?"

Off-limits in the Herald interview with Hasselhoff were any questions about his personal life or his famous bouts with the bottle.

But he was happy to talk about his just-completed starring role as Captain Hook in a season of the Peter Pan pantomime in England, and how this year he will be a judge on Britain's Got Talent.

Hasselhoff was all smiles yesterday for his hundreds of fans, some holding signs saying, "We loff the Hoff".

Another, a young man, could be heard yelling, "Take it off, Hoff".

He kept his gear on but did oblige the crowd with one of the slow-motion jogs from the water for which Baywatch was famous.

Heather Adams, of Tauranga, told the Herald she was more a fan of Knight Rider - the 1980s TV series in which Hasselhoff starred before Baywatch - and thought, "He's got skinny legs in real life".

"He is a bit of a silver fox, but he's no Harrison Ford," said the 38-year-old.

Hasselhoff said he was often asked if he had performed a real-life surf rescue.

"The answer to that is yes I have, and it unfortunately happens to me a lot," he said.

"I was doing a photo shoot and a little girl got pulled out to sea by her dog.

"I was right in the middle of the shoot; the guys looked at me and I said, 'Excuse me, I've got something to do'."