One of his earliest influences was his father, a labourer on building sites, who placed great importance on eduction. "He was pretty militant, and also resentful of his place. I think he would have loved to find some way of self-expression. He took to books. He gave up drinking and started reading. Which was fantastic for us all. I think he really saw that as the shackles, and tried to beat down ignorance."

Jim eventually ended up at Holyrood Catholic School with Charlie, Brian and Tony. They started to swap and sell records, and formed their first band, Biba-Rom!. A reluctant, and painfully shy vocalist, he first refused to sing in front of the others, instead disappearing into another room with the microphone to perform.

He suffered from a stutter and the rumour suggested that he took up singing as therapy. If he could use his voice as an instrument, he could overcome his impediment.

He skipped school occasionally to see bands at the Glasgow Apollo. His first planned gig was to see David Bowie on his Ziggy tour - but he stepped on a needle and was unable to attend. Two months later, he saw his first concert: Genesis during the Foxtrot tour.

His next gig was Lou Reed, who he was with his brother Paul, then aged just 10.

A keen footballer, he attended the school matches with Charlie Burchill. It's stated in one of the biographies that one of Jim’s footballer friends introduced them to the Kraut-Rock of La Dusseldorf and Neu. (Alwa Glebe refutes that claim, stating that she gave Jim his first Neu album in 1979 - as a fellow singer/songwriter then based in Germany, she became friends with Jim during their first German tour).

At 15, they were hitchhiking further afield, going as far as Newcastle to see a gig, and ending up sleeping in a telephone booth.

After school, he tried his hand as a builder/apprentice enginner. At night "...going to gigs dressed up in the whole Glam thing; big boots, mascara, painted nails. Next day I'd be working on my building site, trying to get enough money to go hitch-hiking around Europe, and I'd notice I'd still got a trace of nail varnish on. And I'd be terrified that these giants, these bears that I worked with, would discover it. Other than than, of course, I was perfectly normal."

He ended up hitchhiking around Europe with Charlie, eventually getting as far as Italy.

In 1977, he became on of the founder members of Johnny And The Self Abusers, sharing vocal duties and merging as one of the band’s main composers. Surviving the split after the release of their first single, and renaming the band, he continued with Charlie, Brian and Tony in Simple Minds.

discography

family tree

live appearances