Jock 'n' Roll

Scottish Pop Trivia

Scottish Acts in Eurovision

1. Kenneth McKellar - A Man Without Love (UK) 1966 9th
Kenneth sang all five UK entrants including a song called "A Touch of the Tartan".

2. Lulu - Boom-Bang-A-Bang (UK) 1969 1st equal
Lulu sang all six UK songs including an Elton John/Bernie Taupin song called "Can't Go On (Living Without You)", which finished last.

3. Christian - Shine On (UK) 1978 3rd in UK heat behind Co-Co
"Around this time I had two songs up for selection in the 1978 Eurovision Song Contest final 10, "Shine It On" and a ballad "Home". Up until the last three votes, I was leading and then the English votes came in and blew me away."

4. James Oliver - What We Say With Our Eyes (UK) 1986 6th in UK heat behind Vikki

Glaswegian James (his real name is James McClure) also appeared in 1988 and 1989. In 1988 he appeared with Linda Carroll as a duet called Klass performing "One More Chance", which finished 8th of 8. A year later technical problems, not for the first time, put paid to any chance of victory as "Can't Stop Loving You" finished 7th.

5. Rikki - Only The Light (UK) 1987 13th
Having won the UK heat ahead of two others Scottish act, Rikki (aka Richard Peebles) fared poorly in the final as "Mr Eurovision" Johnny Logan enjoyed his second win.

6. Gordon Campbell - Just Let Me (UK) 1987 9th in UK heat behind Rikki
Gordon had been UK 800m champion and also wrote for Shakin' Stevens (did you know that nobody had more Top 20 in the 80s than Shaky? Scary!)

7. Heavy Pettin' - Romeo (UK) 1987 6th in UK heat behind Rikki
Their appearance has been described as "Bon Jovi-lite".

8. Scott Fitzgerald - Go (UK) 1988 2nd behind Celine Dion
Unlucky Scott was pipped by a single point as final voters Yugoslavia gave Celine 6 points to our none.

9. Les McKeown - Ball and Chain (UK) 1990 4th in UK heat behind Emma
Described as a "middle of the road rock ballad".

10. Karen Matheson - Diwani Bugale (May The Children be Born) (France) 1996 19th
Karen was part of a Celtic ensemble called "Dan Ar Braz and L'Heritage de Celtes", whose entry was sung rather unusually in Breton. Karen was awarded an OBE in 2006 for services to Scottish music. I wonder when we'll get ours!

11. City Chix - All About You (UK) 2006 3rd in UK heat behind Daz Sampson
City Chix was the unimaginative name of Laura McMonagle and Jade Lezar, who star in Scottish soap opera River City.

Let's not forget Moira Shearer. Whilst she didn't take part in the contest as such, she did host the show in 1972 when it was held at the Usher Hall in Edinburgh. Monaco won the contest in 1971 but couldn't find a suitable venue (or afford it) so the contest was moved to the Usher Hall by the BBC.

10 Scottish acts to reach number 1

1. Lonnie Donegan
Three number ones for the man born Anthony Donegan - "Cumberland Gap" and "Gamblin' Man/Puttin' On The Style" (1957) and "My Old Man's A Dustman" (1960).

2. Simple Minds
The band's only number happened in 1989 as "Belfast Child" hit the top spot for two weeks. Not a big favourite with Jock n Rollers as it was voted 2nd Worst Single behind "Love Is All Around". Which brings us to...

3. Wet Wet Wet
Three number 1s including 1994's "Love Is All Around" which spent more than a quarter of the year at the top. "With A Little Help From My Friends" (a double A-side with Billy Bragg) in 1988 and 1992's "Goodnight Girl" completed the triumverate of chart-toppers.

4. Bay City Rollers
1975 was the peak of the Rollers' success as they got to number 1 twice, with "Bye Bye Baby" and "Give A Little Love". I first heard them on an 8-track cartridge, which seems a long, long way from the mp3 age.

5. Aneka
Not quite the archetypal one-hit wonder ignorant DJs would have us believe (the follow up reached 50), Jockanese, sorry, Japanese Boy was sandwiched at the top spot between Shaky's "Green Door" and Soft Cell's "Tainted Love". Apparently, the song wasn't taken to Japan because they said it sounded "too Chinese"!

6. Barbara Dickson OBE
One of Dunfermline's finest exports reached number one in 1985 doing a duet with Elaine Paige. "I Know Him So Well" was taken from the musical Chess and held off all opposition for four long weeks.

7. Midge Ure OBE
Not withstanding his efforts with Band Aid, Midge had number ones with both Slik and as a solo artist. 19 years after "Forever and Ever", "If I Was" knocked David Bowie and Mick Jagger's "Dancing In The Street" off the top spot.

8. Pilot
Ironically Pilot's "January" hit the heights of the UK singles chart on 1 February 1975. David Paton and Billy Lyall managed to leave the Bay City Rollers before the tartan fetish kicked in.

9. Jim Diamond
Ex-PhD singer Jim reached number 1 in 1984 with "I Should Have Known Better" for one week. Voted 18th Worst Scottish single by Jock n Roll voters.

10. The Bluebells
"Young at Heart", re-issued on the back of a Volkswagen TV advert, reached number 1 in 1993. The original release had made number 8. The song was co-written by Bananarama's Siobhan Fahey.

David Wells (H2O and Neon Tetra Records)

When David auditioned (and got the job) as guitarist/songwriter for H2O in the
early 80s, he replaced Andrew Innes (Primal Scream) and Neil Clark (Lloyd
Cole)...Alan McGee was the bass player although he only stayed for a few
months before heading for London.

When H2O were playing a gig in Strathclyde University a young girl in
the audience jumped onto a boys back (for fun?) and got badly glassed in the
face – her name was Clare Grogan.

H20 used to play at the Grangemouth Hotel where Liz Fraser became a regular
attendee and fan (David still have the letters...). They also supported the
Dreamboys there with Peter Capaldi on lead vocals and Craig Ferguson on
drums...("Whatever happened to those two?" - The Cat)

David's brother Alisdair co-owned Toad Hall studios with Ian Carmichael where The Orchids, James Grant, The Shamen, Horse and One Dove (amongst many others) all recorded or made videos.

Jesse Rae

Jesse Rae was the writer of "Inside Out", a UK hit for Odyssey.

The Questions

Lead singer Paul Barry went on to write "Believe" for Cher.

The Cat started a recent quiz night with "Answers" by The Questions. Do you see what he did there?

Owen Paul-McGee

In the episode of The Osbournes where Sharon and Ozzy throw meat and other delights into a neighbour's garden in protest at his loud music, that neighbour was none other than Owen Paul.