Deacon Blue frontman Ricky Ross talked about his formative years growing up in Dundee – and paid tribute to his late mum – at a special event in his home city on Monday evening.
The DC Thomson subscribers event, held in the Counting House of the Dundee publishing company’s Meadowside headquarters, saw Courier editor David Clegg interview Ricky about everything from his early forays into music, to life on the road with the band.
The relaxed ‘fireside chat’ was followed by an audience question and answer session.
Questions included everything from Ricky’s favourite Deacon Blue song to songs he wished he’d written.
After a lively and engaging hour, there was then an opportunity for subscribers to get a signed copy of Ricky’s new autobiography, Walking Back Home.
Poignant tribute to mum
Introducing Ricky to the stage , David Clegg explained how The Courier was keen to “give something back” to its subscribers.
The idea of Ricky Ross coming along to do the ‘in conversation’ event was inspired by a poignant occasion in August 2020 when Ricky penned a tribute in The Courier for his late mum Catherine Ross.
The former Dundee school teacher died suddenly aged 92 after a relatively short illness.
“When I was growing up we didn’t really have music you’d expect to have in our house,” explained Ricky, who described a reading as an introduction to his mum and his music.
“We didn’t have a record player for a long time.
“So a lot of the music I experienced during a lot of my life growing up in Dundee was also growing up in the church – and I was very happy with that.
“A lot of the music that I heard was live. And people were also coached in singing.”
‘Shaped’ by Dundee
Ricky talked about his “religious upbringing” and the influence of his grandfather.
Ricky, who recently released his eighth solo album Short Stories Vol 2, started writing what became the Walking Back Home book during lockdown.
While he enjoyed the creative “freedom”, and revealed he had never written prose before, it was not his initial intention to write a book.
Asked about growing up in Dundee, Ricky said “it does shape you”.
Talking about living in Downie Park before the age of five, his biggest musical memory of that era was playing with tennis rackets with a pal and “pretending to be the Beatles”.
Laughing that he lived in “West Ferry – not even Broughty Ferry” as a youngster, if he told anyone he went to Dundee High School they assumed he must be a “toffee-nosed git”!
Influenced by the church, and going on to train as a teacher, it was youth work that first opened his mind to the “real Dundee”.
He was exposed to a lot of issues he’d never experienced himself including poverty, high unemployment and “the fall out from that”.
After he moved to Glasgow to teach, Deacon Blue eventually formed and took off.
But he never forgot his Dundee roots, citing the late Michael Marra as a “great influence”.
Writing songs
“My desire was to write songs and somehow get these songs out there into the world,” he said, adding that he’s never lost that sense of “coming home” when he returns to Dundee.
Ricky said he’s more “open to change” when it comes to song writing nowadays.
While there was pressure to get songs on the radio in the early days of Deacon Blue, today he’s happy to make records that they enjoy.
Making records, should be a “fun thing”, he said, noting that Dundee-based Deacon Blue bandmate Gregor Philp was in the audience.
Offering assurances that Deacon Blue will play Dundee again, Ricky said his favourite Deacon Blue song is Real Gone Kid because “people are just happy”.
Donation to SCIAF
Ricky was presented with several framed DC Thomson newspapers including a Sunday Post from his birth date on December 22, 1957, an Evening Telegraph and a Courier containing his birth announcement.
With no fee charged by Ricky for the subscribers event, Ricky said he was “very grateful” to The Courier for making a donation to the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund (SCIAF) – a charity close to his heart.
David Clegg, editor of The Courier, said: “I was delighted to be able to welcome one of Dundee’s most famous sons back home to discuss his formative years growing up in the city, his brilliant career in music with Deacon Blue and his wonderful new memoir, Walking Back Home.
“We hope this will be the first of many exclusive events for our subscribers that will allow us to engage more with our loyal audience and the local community.”
Future subscriber events
Graham McDougall, who heads up the audience management team for DC Thomson’s digital newspaper subscriptions business, said this was the first of many free events that DC Thomson will be hosting for subscribers.
Such events are being seen as a great opportunity to keep DC Thomson subscribers engaged and to give access to people and experiences that they won’t get anywhere else.
He said: “We sold out within two hours of releasing the tickets and gained a large waitlist of subscribers keen to grab any last minute cancellations, so there is a strong appetite for more subscriber events in the future!”
A regular schedule of DC Thomson subscriber events is planned for 2023.
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