David Paton (; born 29 October 1949) is a Scottish bassist, guitarist and singer. He first achieved success in the mid-1970s as lead vocalist and bassist of

Pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

, who scored hits with " Magic", "

January January is the first month of the year in the Julian calendar, Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. The first day of the month is known as New Year's Day. It is, on average, the coldest month of the year within most of the No ...

", "Just a Smile" and "Call Me Round" before splitting in 1977. Paton is also known for his work in the original lineup of

The Alan Parsons Project The Alan Parsons Project was a British rock music, rock duo formed in London in 1975. Its core membership consisted of producer, audio engineer, musician and composer Alan Parsons, and singer, songwriter and pianist Eric Woolfson. They shared w ...

(1975-1985), and for working with acts such as

Kate Bush Catherine Bush (born 30 July 1958) is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, and dancer. Bush began writing songs at age 11. She was signed to EMI Records after David Gilmour of Pink Floyd helped produce a demo tape. In 1978, at the ...

Camel A camel (from and () from Ancient Semitic: ''gāmāl'') is an even-toed ungulate in the genus ''Camelus'' that bears distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. Camels have long been domesticated and, as livestock, they provid ...

and

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, songwriter and pianist. His music and showmanship have had a significant, lasting impact on the music industry, and his songwriting partnership with l ...

Biography

Early life

Born in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, Scotland, Paton grew up in the south-eastern suburb of Gilmerton, Edinburgh, where he attended Liberton High School. At the age of 11 he got his first guitar, which he learned to play as an autodidact. His first band was called 'The Beachcombers' and they signed a recording contract in 1968 with CBS Records. They changed their name to The Boots and published their first single, "The Animal In Me". This was soon followed by "Keep Your Lovelight Burning". Because of financial problems, the band split up in 1970.

Career

Paton initially joined the

Bay City Rollers The Bay City Rollers are a Scottish pop rock band known for their worldwide teen idol popularity, as a band in the 1970s. One of many 70s acts heralded as the "biggest group since the Beatles", they were called the "tartan teen sensations fro ...

for a short period of time but never recorded with them. He joined in 1968, as their bassist, when bassist Alan Longmuir switched to full-time guitarist. After leaving them in October 1970, Longmuir switched back to bass, and Paton became a member of another band called 'Fresh', which changed their name to Christyan and released a single, "Nursery Lane", in 1971. While still playing with the band, he took a job as a musician in a nightclub called Tiffanys where he met Ian Bairnson.

Pilot

In 1973, Paton was a co-founder of

. With Ian Bairnson, Billy Lyall and Stuart Tosh, they recorded several demos with

EMI Records EMI Records (formerly EMI Records Ltd.) is a British multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was originally founded as a British flagship label by the music company EMI in 1972, and launched in January 1973 as the succes ...

and recorded their first album '' From the Album of the Same Name'' which was published in 1974. On it was included their first major hit, " Magic" and Bairnson, who was still not an official member of the band, joined them after the recording of the first album. They released their second album ''Second Flight'' in 1975, and its single "

" topped the UK Singles Chart for three weeks, ironically beginning week ending 1 February. and it was followed in 1976 by their third, ''Morin Heights'' which was recorded at Le Studio in Morin Heights in Quebec, Canada, and produced by Roy Thomas Baker.

The Alan Parsons Project

The same year, he and Bairnson started working with producer Alan Parsons and published a first album under the name '' Alan Parsons Project'', '' Tales of Mystery & Imagination''. Paton played bass and sang with the band until the 1986 album '' Stereotomy'' as he continued to work with other artists as a touring- and

session musician A session musician (also known as studio musician or backing musician) is a musician hired to perform in a recording session or a live performance. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a reco ...

. He briefly returned to sing lead and backing vocals and play acoustic guitar at the Project's only live appearance in 1990 for the

Night of the Proms Night of the Proms is a series of concerts held annually in Belgium (since 1985), the Netherlands, Germany and Luxembourg. Regularly there are also shows in France, Spain, Austria, Switzerland, Poland, Denmark, the United States and Sweden. The c ...

, while Laurence Cottle played bass guitar as he'd done on the Project's '' Gaudi'' and '' Freudiana''. Paton wasn't asked to participate in any further Parsons albums or tours.

Solo

His first solo album was released in 1991, titled ''Passions Cry'' (under the name of Davie Paton), and the second album ''Fragments'' in 1996, that was also under the same name. In 1980, Paton already recorded an album with the title ''No Ties No Strings'' at the

Abbey Road Studios Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Recording Studios) is a music recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, London, Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of ...

, which was never released. In 2003, however, the album ''The Search'' was released, which was a new recording of the "lost album" from 1980. In the following years, David Paton released other solo albums.

Later works

He also played on the first two albums by

in 1978, ''

The Kick Inside ''The Kick Inside'' is the debut studio album by English singer-songwriter Kate Bush. Released on 17 February 1978 by EMI Records, it includes her UK No. 1 hit, " Wuthering Heights". The album peaked at No. 3 on the UK Albums Chart and has been ...

'' and '' Lionheart''. In the 1980s, Paton was known for his work with

and

in studio albums and touring around the world. Other credits include bass guitar and backing vocals for several albums by

Fish A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can ...

, as well as Rick Wakeman in the 1990s, such as ''The Classical Connection'', ''African Bach'', ''Softsword'', ''The Classical Connection 2'' and ''Prayers''. In 1984, he was a member of Keats. In 1985, he participated to the original score for the movie '' Ladyhawke'' which was written, composed and played by Andrew Powell and produced by Alan Parsons. From 1985 until 1995 Paton worked as both as studio and live bandmember for Elton John, with a notabele performance on

Live Aid Live Aid was a two-venue benefit concert and music-based fundraising initiative held on Saturday, 13 July 1985. The event was organised by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise further funds for relief of the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia, a m ...

. Paton also appeared solo in the Countdown Spectacular 2 concert series in Australia, between August and September 2007, as a performer and musical director. In 2014, Paton, Bairnson and also Stuart Tosh re-released as the full band Pilot an album called ''A Pilot Project'', which contains exclusively tracks from the ''Alan Parsons Project''. That same year, on 6 September 2014, David Paton, Ian Bairnson and Stuart Tosh played Midfest in Edinburgh for the first time in 39 years with the original line-up (minus the late Billy Lyall). In 2016 and 2017, Paton, along with Ian Bairnson, was back live as Band Pilot, primarily in Japan, the UK and Germany. They were supported by Kenny Hutchison (keyboards, vocals), Calais Brown (guitar, vocals), Dave Stewart (drums, vocals) and Irvin Duguid (keyboards, vocals). In 2019, David Paton sort of single-handedly released a follow-up to ''A Pilot Project'', ''The Traveller - Another Pilot Project''. With a few exceptions, he recorded all the instruments himself. In 2020, Paton's next solo album ''2020'' was released. In July 2021, Pilot (Paton and Bairnson) released ''The Magic EP'', featuring 4 completely re-recorded older songs: ''Magic'', ''January'', ''Just A Smile'' and ''Over The Moon''. The latter was completely rearranged for this purpose. On 21 March 2022, the long-announced follow-up album ''The Magic Collection'' was released, on which the EP tracks are also included. His autobiography ''Magic: The David Paton Story'' was released on 30 June 2023.

Discography

Solo

Singles

Albums

With David Paton & Friends

With Christyan

Singles

With Boots

Singles

With
Pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

Studio albums

Singles

With
The Alan Parsons Project The Alan Parsons Project was a British rock music, rock duo formed in London in 1975. Its core membership consisted of producer, audio engineer, musician and composer Alan Parsons, and singer, songwriter and pianist Eric Woolfson. They shared w ...

Studio albums

With
Kate Bush Catherine Bush (born 30 July 1958) is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, and dancer. Bush began writing songs at age 11. She was signed to EMI Records after David Gilmour of Pink Floyd helped produce a demo tape. In 1978, at the ...

Studio Albums

With
Camel A camel (from and () from Ancient Semitic: ''gāmāl'') is an even-toed ungulate in the genus ''Camelus'' that bears distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. Camels have long been domesticated and, as livestock, they provid ...

With Keats

Single

Studio albums

With Rick Wakeman

Single

EP

Studio albums

With Fish

Studio albums

Live albums

Singles

With Sadie Paton

Singles

With Eric Woolfson

Studio album

References

External links

* *
Official Pilot website

A Pilot Project

Another Pilot Project

Another official Pilot website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paton, David 1949 births Living people Musicians from Edinburgh Scottish pop guitarists British male bass guitarists Scottish bass guitarists Scottish session musicians People educated at Liberton High School Pilot (band) members Camel (band) members Elton John Band members The Alan Parsons Project members Bay City Rollers members Progressive rock bass guitarists

Biography

Early life

Career

Pilot

The Alan Parsons Project

Solo

Later works

Discography

Solo

Singles

Albums

With David Paton & Friends

With Christyan

Singles

With Boots

Singles

With Pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

Studio albums

Singles

With The Alan Parsons Project The Alan Parsons Project was a British rock music, rock duo formed in London in 1975. Its core membership consisted of producer, audio engineer, musician and composer Alan Parsons, and singer, songwriter and pianist Eric Woolfson. They shared w ...

Studio albums

With Kate Bush Catherine Bush (born 30 July 1958) is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, and dancer. Bush began writing songs at age 11. She was signed to EMI Records after David Gilmour of Pink Floyd helped produce a demo tape. In 1978, at the ...

Studio Albums

With Camel A camel (from and () from Ancient Semitic: ''gāmāl'') is an even-toed ungulate in the genus ''Camelus'' that bears distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. Camels have long been domesticated and, as livestock, they provid ...

With Keats

Single

Studio albums

With Rick Wakeman

Single

EP

Studio albums

With Fish

Studio albums

Live albums

Singles

With Sadie Paton

Singles

With Eric Woolfson

Studio album

References

External links

With
Pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

With
The Alan Parsons Project The Alan Parsons Project was a British rock music, rock duo formed in London in 1975. Its core membership consisted of producer, audio engineer, musician and composer Alan Parsons, and singer, songwriter and pianist Eric Woolfson. They shared w ...

With
Kate Bush Catherine Bush (born 30 July 1958) is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, and dancer. Bush began writing songs at age 11. She was signed to EMI Records after David Gilmour of Pink Floyd helped produce a demo tape. In 1978, at the ...

With
Camel A camel (from and () from Ancient Semitic: ''gāmāl'') is an even-toed ungulate in the genus ''Camelus'' that bears distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. Camels have long been domesticated and, as livestock, they provid ...