Colin "Scotty" Thistlethwaite (17 March 1941 – 1999), who performed and recorded as Colin Scot, was a British singer-songwriter.

Life and career

He was born in County Durham, to parents originally from California. In the mid-1950s, he moved with his parents to

London, Ontario London (pronounced ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River, approximat ...

, Canada, and after high school studied at

California State University The California State University (Cal State or CSU) is a public university system in California. With 23 campuses and eight off-campus centers enrolling 485,550 students with 55,909 faculty and staff, CSU is the largest four-year public univer ...

Long Beach Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporated ...

. In the early 1960s, he played banjo and guitar, and with pianist Bud Hedrick formed a

ragtime Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that flourished from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers such as Scott ...

duo, Bud and Scotty, who played regularly at Coke Corner in

Disneyland Disneyland is a theme park in Anaheim, California. Opened in 1955, it was the first theme park opened by The Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. Disney initially envisi ...

. There, he came to know members of

folk revival The American folk music revival began during the 1940s and peaked in popularity in the mid-1960s. Its roots went earlier, and performers like Josh White, Burl Ives, Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, Big Bill Broonzy, Billie Holiday, Richard Dyer-Ben ...

vocal group the Yachtsmen Quartet, who regularly led

hootenanny A hootenanny is a party involving music in the United States. It is particularly associated with folk music. Etymology Placeholder Hootenanny is an Appalachian colloquialism that was used in the early twentieth century U.S. as a placeholder name ...

-style entertainments at Disneyland, sometimes featuring artists such as

the Dillards The Dillards are an American bluegrass and country rock band from Salem, Missouri. The band is best known for introducing bluegrass music into the popular mainstream with their appearance as " The Darlings" on ''The Andy Griffith Show''. Ban ...

Hoyt Axton Hoyt Wayne Axton (March 25, 1938 – October 26, 1999) was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor. He became prominent in the early 1960s, establishing himself on the West Coast as a folk singer with an earthy style and powerful voic ...

José Feliciano José Montserrate Feliciano García (born September 10, 1945) () is a Puerto Rican musician, singer and composer. He recorded many international hits, including his rendition of the Doors' "Light My Fire" and his self-penned Christmas song " F ...

, and

John Denver Henry John Deutschendorf Jr. (December 31, 1943 – October 12, 1997), known professionally as John Denver, was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, actor, activist, and humanitarian whose greatest commercial success was as a solo singe ...

.Malcolm C. Searles, "Up So High", ''Shindig!'', No.124, February 2022, pp.58-63 Chris Bishop, "The What's New", ''Garage Hangover'', 10 February 2012
Retrieved 18 March 2022 In 1965, Scot joined the Yachtsmen for their tour of Europe, where they changed their name to The What's New. They played regularly at the Casino nightclub in Paris, France, and recorded for the Number One label. Their first record, a version of

Gordon Lightfoot Gordon Meredith Lightfoot Jr. (born November 17, 1938) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist who achieved international success in folk, folk-rock, and country music. He is credited with helping to define the folk-pop sound of the 19 ...

's "

Early Morning Rain "Early Morning Rain," sometimes styled as "Early Mornin' Rain," is a song written, composed, and recorded by Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot. The song appears on his 1966 debut album '' Lightfoot!'' and, in a re-recorded version, on ...

", reached the French pop charts in 1966, and their next single, "Get Away" / "Up So High", comprised two songs both written by Scot, and was again successful in France. However, the band soon fragmented, due in part to problems with their management. Scot went to London, and played regularly in

folk club A folk club is a regular event, permanent venue, or section of a venue devoted to folk music and traditional music. Folk clubs were primarily an urban phenomenon of 1960s and 1970s Great Britain and Ireland, and vital to the second British folk ...

s both there and elsewhere in England in the early 1970s. He was signed by

United Artists Records United Artists Records was an American record label founded by Max E. Youngstein of United Artists in 1957 to issue movie soundtracks. The label expanded into other genres, such as easy listening, jazz, pop, and R&B. History Genres In 1959, ...

and recorded a self-titled debut album produced by

John Anthony John Anthony may refer to: *Sir John Anthony (provost) (1862–1935), Scottish businessman who served as provost of Govan, 1904–1908 *John Anthony (physician) (1585–1655), English physician *John Gould Anthony (1804–1877), United States natu ...

Trident Studios Trident Studios was a British recording facility, located at 17 St Anne's Court in London's Soho district between 1968 and 1981. It was constructed in 1967 by Norman Sheffield, drummer of the 1960s group the Hunters, and his brother Barry. ...

. Issued in 1971, the album featured some self-penned songs as well as others, and included contributions from such musicians as

Rick Wakeman Richard Christopher Wakeman (born 18 May 1949) is an English keyboardist best known as a former member of the progressive rock band Yes (band), Yes across five tenures between 1971 and 2004, and for his solo albums released in the 1970s. Born ...

Robert Fripp Robert Fripp (born 16 May 1946) is a British musician, songwriter, record producer, and author, best known as the guitarist, founder and longest-lasting member of the progressive rock band King Crimson. He has worked extensively as a session ...

Peter Gabriel Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and activist. He rose to fame as the original lead singer of the progressive rock band Genesis. After leaving Genesis in 1975, he launched ...

Jon Anderson John Roy Anderson (born 25 October 1944) is an English singer, songwriter and musician, best known as the lead singer of the progressive rock band Yes, which he formed in 1968 with bassist Chris Squire. He was a member of the band across thre ...

Phil Collins Philip David Charles Collins (born 30 January 1951) is an English singer, musician, songwriter, record producer and actor. He was the drummer and lead singer of the rock band Genesis and also has a career as a solo performer. Between 1982 and ...

Peter Hammill Peter Joseph Andrew Hammill (born 5 November 1948) is an English musician and recording artist. He was a founder member of the progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator. Best known as a singer/songwriter, he also plays guitar and piano an ...

Alan Hull James Alan Hull (20 February 1945 – 17 November 1995) was an English singer-songwriter and founding member of the Tyneside folk rock band Lindisfarne. Career Hull was born at 68 Sutton's Dwellings, Adelaide Terrace, Benwell, Newcastle upon Tyn ...

, and

Brinsley Schwarz Brinsley Schwarz were a 1970s English pub rock band, named after their guitarist Brinsley Schwarz. With Nick Lowe on bass and vocals, keyboardist Bob Andrews and drummer Billy Rankin, the band evolved from the 1960s pop band Kippington Lod ...

. Though not a commercial success at the time, the album "eventually took on the luster of a cult classic not only for its passionate songwriting, but for the impressive roster of musicians who contributed to it". Scot continued to perform regularly around the country, and released two more albums for

Warner Brothers Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of ...

, ''Just Another Clown'' (1973) and ''Out of the Blue'' (1974), but again they were not commercially successful. Artist Biography by Timothy Monger, ''Allmusic''
Retrieved 18 March 2022 A popular and highly respected club performer with "dynamic stage presence and larger-than-life personality", Scot was also known for his considerable alcohol consumption. In the 1980s he settled in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

, where he died in 1999.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Scot, Colin 1941 births 1999 deaths English male singers English folk singers Date of death missing