Deacon Blue

Few bands have pinned Glasgow's grey skies to a pop song quite so faithfully as Deacon Blue. The band formed in the city in 1985 after frontman Ricky Ross moved there from Dundee, borrowing their name from Steely Dan's 1977 track "Deacon Blues". Their songwriting has long been rooted in rock and blues, and Ross, who wrote most of the material, now shares vocals with Lorraine McIntosh, alongside drummer Dougie Vipond, guitarist Gregor Philp and bassist Lewis Gordon.

The debut Raintown (1987) was a commercial success, but the band's breakthrough came with When the World Knows Your Name (1989), which topped the UK Albums Chart for two weeks. Its single "Real Gone Kid" gave them their first UK top ten and reached number one in Spain. After a split in 1994 they returned in 1999 with Walking Back Home, and they lost guitarist Graeme Kelling to pancreatic cancer in 2004. Since returning with The Hipsters in 2012 they have released a run of albums, and in 2024 "Late '88" previewed The Great Western Road.