NEWS: Tam White RIP

MARK McLAUGHLIN
Evening News (Edinburgh)
June 22, 2010, Tuesday
1 Edition

TRIBUTES were today paid to legendary bluesman, reluctant actor and great-grandfather Tam White.

Considered one of Europe's greatest blues singers, Mr White was a fixture of the Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival and played on the same stage as some of the world's famous musicians.

Friends said he had recently returned from a holiday in the Canary Islands, and collapsed yesterday after a trip to a health club. The 68-year-old was a heavy smoker, and suffered from emphysema.

Neil Warden, who had played guitar with him since the mid-1980s, said: "I'm devastated but he's left us with some very happy memories. He was the kind of guy that would always perform no matter what health he was in. I played a gig with him about six weeks ago and he was on form.

"He used to keep his work and his family separate but he doted on his grandchildren.

"A 100 per cent professional who always put on a good show, he was a true legend."

Mr White supported a string of stars including BB King, Al Green, Van Morrison, James Taylor, Paul Jones and Charlie Musselwhite, as well as fronting The Tam White Band in a sell-out week of shows at the prestigious Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in London in the 1990s.

Despite acting alongside Mel Gibson in Braveheart, Geena Davis in Cutthroat Island and turning down a role with Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean, as well as making a string of TV appearances in everything from Rebus to River City, Mr White was reluctant to call himself an actor. "I'm always a bit suspect to call myself that," he told the Evening News last year.

Mr White was born in 1948 and brought up in the Grassmarket, where he lived till age 13 when the family moved to Saughtonhall. His mother, Marion, and grandmother, Agnes Sim, enjoyed singing and his great-grandfather was bandmaster in Gilmerton.

He completed a five-year apprenticeship in stonemasonry for James Turner's in Gorgie upon leaving school at 15, but found his true calling after hearing the Ray Charles hit What'd I Say on the car radio while hitch-hiking through Holland in a kilt at the age of 18.

He formed The Boston Dexters in Edinburgh in 1964 and, following a record deal with Columbia Records, moved to London to begin a six-month residency at the Pontiac Club in Putney alongside the legendary John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, featuring Eric Clapton on guitar. The band split after around three years and Mr White went solo.

He got his first acting break in 1987 when he provided the voiceover for Robbie Coltrane's Big Jazza in the BAFTA award-winning BBC TV series, Tutti Frutti, in 1987.

Fiona Alexander, producer of the Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival, had known him since his days on Tutti Frutti.

She said: "We're all devastated. I was only talking to him a week and a half a ago about the jazz festival. He was in fighting spirit. He had a fantastic way of delivering a song which showed that it came from the heart.

"We're going to let things settle for a few days and then start thinking about what we can do for a tribute. His musical presence and wonderful personality are irreplaceable."

Tommy Smith, artistic director and leader of the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra, said: "All of the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra are devastated, shocked and saddened by the news of Tam White's demise.

"A voice much missed already."