Notes on Scottish bands touring internationally and features on Scottish music, sport, film and the life written by and for Scots around the world. More →
Our ‘Scotland’s Greatest’ polls stirred a lot of debate on these pages but we thought the Greatest Bassist Derek Forbes should have the final word for now. We asked the former Simple Minds and Propaganda member about his favourite Youtube videos, his new band and who got his vote for Scotland’s Greatest Ever Vocalist.
…Jim Kerr of Simple Minds, according to the readers of Dear Scotland. Almost three and a half thousand votes were cast and in the end Jim Kerr edged out the sensational Alex Harvey for the title. Jim joins former bandmate Derek Forbes, Stuart Adamson and Franz Ferdinand’s Paul Thomson in Dear Scotland’s Greatest Ever Supergroup:
Stuart Adamson on guitar. Paul Thompson on drums. Derek Forbes on bass. On vocals…? From almost a hundred suggestions we finally came up with this shortlist: Liz Fraser, Alex Harvey, Jim Kerr, King Creosote, Annie Lennox, Billy Mackenzie, Frankie Miller, Paolo Nutini, Bon Scott and Rod Stewart. Voting closes Jan 5, 2010.
…Derek Forbes, according to the readers of Dear Scotland. Many thanks to the thousands of new visitors to the site in the past week who voted. Derek joins Stuart Adamson and Paul Thomson in Dear Scotland’s Greatest Ever Supergroup. Some great DF moments below:
So we come to the last of our ‘greatest’ questions: Who is Scotland’s Greatest Ever Vocalist? Now if you’ve ever been to a football match or witnessed the pubs empty on a Friday night in Scotland, you’ll know that the Scots love to sing. And we’ve produced some of the best in the business.
Legendary soul and funk group the Average White Band will be back in NYC this weekend. Founding member and Greatest Ever Bassist nominee Alan Gorrie spoke to Dear Scotland this week about hanging out with Marvin Gaye, what goes through his mind each night when he plays ‘Pick Up the Pieces’, and much much more:
Inevitably Alec’s ‘Who is…?’ article and the suggestions received through Facebook, Twitter and the comments section have caused further heated debate amongst the Dear Scotland contributors. It’s just as well most of us live in different countries. In the end, our final five are: Dominic Aitchison, Jack Bruce, Derek Forbes, Alan Gorrie, and Dougie Payne.
…Paul Thomson of Franz Ferdinand, according to the readers of Dear Scotland (and a few thousand new visitors). Congratulations to Paul who joins guitarist Stuart Adamson in our Greatest Ever Scottish Supergroup.
Paul McCartney once said, “None of us wanted to be the bass player. In our minds he was the fat guy who always played at the back”. This reminded me of being a kid in the playground and how everyone wants to be Ally McCoist or Henrik Larsson and nobody wants to play in goal.
