Tam White

Born Thomas Bennett Sim White in Edinburgh, Scotland, White was primarily known as a blues vocalist with a trademark gravel-voiced voice. In the 1960s he recorded with beat groups The Boston Dexters and then The Buzz, who recorded one single with record producer Joe Meek in 1966. In the 1970s, White was the first artist to sing live on Top of the Pops,[2] and he provided the vocals for Robbie Coltrane to mime to as Big Jazza McGlone in John Byrne's award-winning television series Tutti Frutti in 1987. Mixed fortunes in the 1970s after the Boston Dexters split saw him hosting his own TV show on Scottish Television and performing in working men's clubs, followed by a spell when he returned to stonemasonry. He told The Scotsman: "Everyone wanted me to be somebody else. I did a series for STV in the 1970s, my own show, and I ended up in a monkey suit – it was incredibly embarrassing – and doing working men's clubs. I got hooked into that, anything to make a living." During this time White was drinking heavily, a habit he kicked in 1980.[2]