Paisley singer Davey Pattison has been described by the legendary record producer Shel Talmy as “one of rock’s very best lead vocalists”.
And music fans can hear for themselves how the vocalist earned that accolade when he takes to the stage of Glasgow’s Hard Rock Café this Saturday, (Feb 17) with his new rock and blues outfit, The Davey Pattison Band.
Pattison is best known as frontman and lead singer of Ronnie Montrose’s rock group Gamma, The Robin Trower Band and playing with guitarist, Michael Schenker.
After being headhunted to front Ronnie Montrose’s new band in 1979, Pattison left Scotland for America and spent the next 40 years touring the world performing in concert halls, arenas and stadiums.
He’s even wowed a crowd of more than 80,000 fans during a massive gig at the Oakland Coliseum, in California when he was Gamma’s frontman, in 1982.
Born and raised in the tenement slums of Glasgow’s Tradeston district, Pattison has never forgotten his roots and a fellow-musician once told him that as soon as he opens his mouth to sing the blues, you can hear what his upbringing was like and the poverty he endured growing up.
Pattison got his first paying gig with the legendary house band, The Bards at The Burns Cottage bar, in Glasgow, during the 60s. He went on to sing and play both guitar and bass with other rock and blues outfits of that era like Crusade, Shard, Sunday and Findo Gask, who regularly played at Paisley’s Watermill and the Silver Thread during the 70s.
Bur then a phone call from America changed his life when he was asked to fly to San Francisco to sing with Gamma – the new band being built around the rock guitarist Ronnie Montrose.
Pattison who is now back living in Paisley, said: “I’ll never stop singing and the band I have with me just now, really can rock. They have almost blown the roof off venues all over Scotland when we’ve been performing.
“I must have played most of the clubs and bars in Paisley and Glasgow when I was starting out my musical career and I’m just as excited now for Saturday than I was back then.”
Reflecting on the quote about him from Shel Talmy – who produced The Who and The Kinks among many other bands and artistes – Pattison says: “I really appreciate what he said about me after I’d worked on many recording sessions with him. Coming from someone as respected as Shel Talmy, I’ll take that, thank you very much.”
The Davey Pattison Band is appearing at the Hard Rock Café, in Glasgow’s Buchanan Street, on Saturday, February 17, as part of the Rock ‘n’ Blues All-Dayer along with Kossoff – The Band Plays On; Jason Sweeney Band; Back Street Crawler and Lonehead. Tickets can be bought from www.tickets-scotland.com or if there are still tickets available, on the door with the event starting at 2pm.
Headline photo: Davey Pattison