James Hamish Stuart (born 8 October 1949) is a Scottish guitarist, bassist, singer, composer and record producer. He was an original member of the Average White Band.

Biography

Born in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

, Scotland, Stuart attended Queens Park School in Glasgow and left to form as lead guitarist his first professional band, the Dream Police in 1964. He recorded a couple of singles with the Dream Police before he was invited to join the recently formed Average White Band (AWB) in June 1972. A member of AWB from 1972 to 1982, he went on to work with

Aretha Franklin Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Honored as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Soul", she was twice named by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine as the Roll ...

Chaka Khan Yvette Marie Stevens (born March 23, 1953), better known by her stage name Chaka Khan ( ), is an American singer. Known as the " Queen of Funk", her career has spanned more than five decades beginning in the early 1970s as the lead vocalist of ...

, and

David Sanborn David William Sanborn (July 30, 1945 – May 12, 2024) was an American alto saxophonist. He worked in many musical genres; his solo recordings typically blended jazz with instrumental pop and R&B. He began playing the saxophone at the age o ...

. He wrote Atlantic Starr's 1986 hit "If Your Heart Isn't in It" and songs for

Smokey Robinson William "Smokey" Robinson Jr. (born February 19, 1940) is an American R&B and soul singer, songwriter, record producer, and former record executive. He was the founder and frontman of the pioneering Motown vocal group the Miracles, for which he ...

Jeffrey Osborne Jeffrey Linton Osborne (born March 9, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter, musician and lyricist. He is the former drummer and lead singer of the American R&B/soul group L.T.D. (band), L.T.D., with whom he began his musical career in 1970. B ...

George Benson George Washington Benson (born March 22, 1943) is an American jazz fusion guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He began his professional career at the age of 19 as a jazz guitarist. A former child prodigy, Benson first came to prominence in the ...

, and

Diana Ross Diana Ross (born Diane Ernestine Earle Ross March 26, 1944) is an American singer and actress. Known as the "Queen of Motown Records", she was the lead singer of the vocal group the Supremes, who became Motown#Major divisions, Motown's most suc ...

. Stuart joined

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...

’s band (where he switched between guitar and bass as necessary with McCartney) for McCartney's 1989 comeback album '' Flowers in the Dirt'' and went on to appear on several other albums and McCartney's world tours of 1989 and

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

. After collaborating on numerous albums for other artists, he recorded his first solo album, ''Sooner or Later'', in 1999, 17 years after leaving the Average White Band, which he released on his own

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

, Sulphuric Records. Apart from playing with his own group, the Hamish Stuart Band, and with his fellow Glaswegian guitarist and friend

Jim Mullen Jim Mullen (born 26 November 1945) is a Scottish, Glasgow-born jazz guitarist with a distinctive style, like Wes Montgomery before him, picking with the thumb rather than a plectrum. Biography Jim Mullen was guitarist with Pete Brown & Piblo ...

, Stuart has also produced Gordon Haskell and the Swedish singer-songwriter Meja. In 2006, Stuart toured as the bass player with

Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band is a live rock music, rock Supergroup (music), supergroup founded in 1989 with shifting personnel, led by former The Beatles, Beatles drummer and vocalist Ringo Starr. History and description Since 1989, Starr ...

. He joined Starr again for a 2008 tour, where he performed " Pick Up The Pieces" and " Work to Do". He once again toured with Ringo in 2019 playing "Pick Up the Pieces", "Work to Do", and " Cut the Cake". Although the tour paused because of COVID-19 precautions, it resumed in 2022, completing tour dates initially planned for 2020. In 2007, he produced and appeared as a guest vocalist on the album ''All About the Music'', by The AllStars collective. In July 2015, Stuart reunited with his AWB bandmates Malcolm "Molly" Duncan and Steve Ferrone to form The 360 Band. This is in essence one third of the original Average White Band. They released an album titled ''Three Sixty'' in 2017 and have been performing live together along with supporting musicians. Since 2019, he has toured as a featured member of

. In 2023, he partnered with

Midnight Oil Midnight Oil (known informally as "The Oils") are an Australian rock band composed of Peter Garrett (vocals, harmonica), Rob Hirst (drums), Jim Moginie (guitar, keyboard) and Martin Rotsey (guitar). The group was formed in Sydney in 1972 by H ...

band mates

Rob Hirst Robert George Hirst (born 3 September 1955) is an Australian musician from Camden, New South Wales. He is a founding member of rock band Midnight Oil on drums, percussion and backing vocals (sometimes lead vocals) from the 1970s until the band ...

and

Jim Moginie James 'Jim' Moginie (born 18 May 1956) is an Australian musician. He is best known for his work with Midnight Oil, of which he is a founding member, guitarist, keyboardist and leading songwriter. Career In addition to Midnight Oil, Moginie ha ...

on the ''Red Continent'' EP. He is the curator, along with partner Claire Houlihan and friend Tom Sutton-Roberts, of the annual mOare Music festival, held in the village of Oare,

Faversham Faversham () is a market town in Kent, England, from Sittingbourne, from London and from Canterbury, next to the Swale, a strip of sea separating mainland Kent from the Isle of Sheppey in the Thames Estuary. It is close to the A2 road (Great ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

. In recognition of his unique contribution to music, Stuart was awarded with a BASCA Gold Badge award in 2016.

Discography

Albums

Extended plays

References

External links

Interview at Wholenote Online Guitar Community
at

Gazetteer for Scotland The ''Gazetteer for Scotland'' is a gazetteer covering the geography, history and people of Scotland. It was conceived in 1995 by Bruce Gittings of the University of Edinburgh and David Munro of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, and co ...