JJ Gilmour

Saturday 11th April - 8pm - £10
The Big Room @ The Georgian Hotel
26 Lefroy Street, Coatbridge
Tel: 01236 421888

A Home town show to celebrate the release of JJ's long-awaited second album The Boy Who Didn't Fall in April 2009.

It has been a long and eventful road for Coatbridge singer/songwriter JJ ‘Jinky’ Gilmour as he prepares for the release of his second solo album The Boy Who Didn’t Fall.

A series of setbacks, including his record label closing and a massive legal bill for getting back the rights to his first album, meant that it has taken over five years for the album to come to fruition.

JJ came to most people’s attention when he joined the well known Scottish band The Silencers after a chance meeting in Canada in 1986 where he was gigging and recording after signing to a Canadian label Blue Wave Records.

His first recording with The Silencers was the album Dance To The Holyman and two more albums followed over the next 8 years. While the band enjoyed massive commercial success in Europe, the UK remained a tough nut to crack.

After 10 years with the band he left to pursue other avenues and moved to Jersey to write. While playing a show on the island he met the golfer Ian Woosnam’s manager, who was hugely impressed by JJ and introduced him to Ian, who offered to finance the recording of what became his debut album Sunnyside P.A.L. The songs on which were deeply personal and a tribute to his closest friend, Paul Anthony Lennon, who sadly lost his life to cancer.

Offers to replace Brian Harvey in East 17 and Donnie Munro in Runrig was not the direction he wanted to go in and Sunnyside P.A.L was released in 2002 to critical acclaim. Extensive tours with Bob Geldof, Kenny Rogers and Ocean Colour Scene gained him a strong and loyal following, as well as a reputation as a brilliant live performer, but various internal troubles with his record company saw him mired in legal wrangles that stalled his career.

With the help of The Police’s manger, Miles Copeland, he was eventually able to release himself from his contract, but the time and financial burden had taken its toll. "I did a lot of soul searching during that time. I didn’t know if this was what I still wanted to do," said JJ.

A short spell fronting supergroup The Casbah Club (with Mark Brzezicki of Big Country and Bruce Foxton of The Jam) proved a brief distraction after they heard him playing a session on the Billy Sloan Show.

The following year JJ was invited to be the support on movie legend Steven Segal’s band’s tour of the US, something which reignited his belief in himself as a songwriter and performer.

After returning to the UK, JJ threw himself into writing and went into the studio to record the new album with his long term friend Greame Duffin of Wet, Wet, Wet. The result is the stunning The Boy Who Didn’t Fall, which will be released on his own P.A.L record label and will be available online before being officially released in April 2009.

So what does the future hold for JJ? "I’m enjoying making music again and really proud of the new album. I’m now based in Belfast and writing a musical with The Adventurers front man Pat Gribben, so life’s good at the moment."

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