Colin Scot -

Colin Scot (1941–1999) was an English–Canadian singer–songwriter who released a self-titled album in 1971 on United Artists, recorded with members of Yes, Genesis, King Crimson, and Van Der Graaf Generator. On Warner Bros., he released the 1973/74 albums Just Another Clown and Out of the Blue.

Background

Scot was born Colin Thistlethwaite on March 17, 1941, in County Durham, England, to parents from California. By 1957, the family lived in London, Ontario, where Thistlethwaite attended Sir Adam Beck Collegiate. He joined the school glee club through the 1959–60 school year and appeared in the 1960 Beck on Call program with a Yorkshire recitation. Scot later attended California State University at Long Beach.

By the early 1960s, Scot played banjo and guitar with pianist Bud Hedrick in the ragtime duo Bud and Scotty, a regular act at Coke Corner in Disneyland. The engagement connected Scot with the Yachtsmen, a Disneyland folk group that included Carl Berg, Jay Huling, and Kevin Shipman. In December 1965, the Yachtsmen invited Scot to replace an unavailable member for a Paris engagement arranged by singer Line Renaud and composer Louis “Loulou” Gasté. Scot joined Berg, Huling, and Shipman for the January 1966 move to Paris, where the quartet adopted The What’s New.

The What’s New worked the Casino de Paris and appeared with Renaud on French television. In July 1966, the group recorded the four-track Number One EP The What’s New at the Gasté studio in Paris. The record contained covers of Gordon Lightfoot (“Early Morning Rain”), Tom Paxton (“The Last Thing on My Mind”), and the New Christy Minstrels (“Huckleberry Finn,” “Driving Wheels”). The follow-up EP Get Away contained four Scot originals: “Get Away,” “It’s Over Now,” “Up So High,” and “Daisy.” On October 25, the group played the Olympia in Paris with Michel Polnareff and the Beach Boys. The What’s New dissolved early the next year, and Scot remained in Europe.

Scot next became part-owner of Kahuna’s Cave in Cala Mayor, Mallorca. He subsequently worked the British folk-club circuit with 1968 appearances at the Troubadour and Les Cousins in London. In September 1969, he played the Rugby Folk Festival with Roy Harper, Ralph McTell, Magna Carta, and other British folk acts. By February 1970, the Peter Rice Agency represented Scot in an acoustic roster that also included Magna Carta, Spencer Davis, Derek Brimstone, and Willow Pattern.

Scot secured a 1970 recording deal with United Artists Records. He entered Trident Studios in London in early 1971 with producer John Anthony for sessions on his self-titled debut.

Discography: