This book is a visually
led volume built around previously unpublished black-and-white photographs of
Frankie Miller's concert for prisoners at San Quentin in August 1975, treating
the event as a self-contained story: how a Scottish blue-eyed soul singer
brought songs from 'The Rock', written and recorded in San Francisco within
sight of Alcatraz, back into the prison world that had inspired them.
About the Author :
As far back as I can remember, I had music in my home. My first memory is in the mid 50s when I lived at my grandparents house in Edinburgh and refusing to go to bed until they played a Jim Reeves 78 called " Bimbo" on our beautiful HMV , green velvet turntable. The late 50s brought Cliff Richard and the Shadows and at 7 years old in 1960 I managed to get into town to see " The Young Ones"without my parents knowledge. ( Thats another story!) In the early 60s I was given a bundle of singles and EPs by my upstairs neighbour. These included Little Richard, Del Shannon, Duane Eddy, The Everley Brothers and many more. In 1963 I first saw The Hollies on TV and became a huge fan.
In 1956, our family had moved to a very large housing scheme on the outskirts of Edinburgh, where I attended the local primary school, where football was the main focus. Then in 1965, when all my football friends joined the local Secondary School, I went to a Senior Secondary in town (Boroughmuir), where one was able to study up to A Level standard.
One of the exciting aspects was that I was immediately thrown into a "melting pot"of different young people from all over the city. Over the next couple of years and from a musical point of view, 2 stood out. Gordon McIntosh and Billy Lyall.
Gordon was a guitarist in a local band called Leathur Soul then found fame with Bilbo Baggins. Billy Lyall was in the Bay City Rollers then moved to Pilot with David Paton. They had huge hits with " Magic" and "January". So from 1967 onwards, these two were mainly responsible for introducing me to the live music scene around Edinburgh where I met dozens of amazing people.
I first saw Frankie Miller perform live in June 1968. He was eighteen years old and I was fifteen. The occasion was our school " Basketball Dance ". Teargas and The Stoics were both on the bill. It was life changing for me in that I had never seen live bands of this calibre before and I have kept an archive of Frankie Miller cuttings and memorabilia ever since.
Over the next 25 years I never missed a Frankie Miller headline tour again. I went on to start a fan magazine and a close friendship developed from that. From backstage chats etc, it developed into regular telephone contact which often led to Frankie allowing me to hear new songs he had written.
Life changed for us all in 1994 when Frankie was perhaps reaching a peak in his career.
In 2002 I was co-conspirator which led to the Barrowlands Frankie Miller Tribute Concert which featured 22 bands including Joe Walsh from The Eagles, Nazareth, and the Sensational Alex Harvey Band . 2,000 people attended as we raised money for Drake Music Trust.
Since 2002 and for over 20 years since, I handled all the incoming e mail enquiries on the official website and act as an administrator on social media.
In 2003 I co-wrote the sleeve notes for all the " Eagle Rock" re-mastered CDs and helped chose the bonus tracks for the seven albums.
In 2005/6 I helped compile the "Long Way Home" album which I am proud to say, was dedicated to me. Frankie and Annette christened me " The Keeper of the Flame"
In 2016 I also directed the artwork for the " Frankie Miller's Double Take " duets project CD/ DVD / Double Vinyl Album for David Mackay/ Universal Music. I also gave the project its " Double Take " title.
Artists duetting with Frankie included Rod Stewart, Joe Walsh , Elton John, Kid Rock , Kim Carnes, Willie Nelson and Bonnie Tyler and many more.
Hopefully my book will introduce even more people to the amazing voice of Frankie Miller.
