by Loudon Temple

A SCOT who brought some of the biggest names in pop and rock north of the Border, is to be honoured as “Scotland’s first impresario,” over fifty years after he died.

The MacArts Centre in Galashiels has already been set up in the memory of Duncan Mackinnon – a legendary character who dedicated his life to keeping teenagers happy in the rock 'n' roll era and Swinging Sixties.

He had served with the 5th Btn KOSB, surviving some of the most intensive action that took place in World War II, and was determined to make a success of his life.

Mackinnon was wounded by shrapnel and became determined to put fun high on the agenda, for himself and other fellow Scots when hostilities ended.

In the late 1940s he set up his Border Dances operation, booking halls from Berwickshire in the East to Dumfries and Galloway and Carlisle on the other side of the country.

Right from the start, with important contacts in London, he began to bring bands North of The Border, many of which went on to become household names.

He was a business associate of pop guru Larry Parnes who groomed many young hopefuls to become teen idols in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s. Parnes was also credited with developing the package tour in which several acts toured the country together playing one-night stands.

If the bagpipe-playing Mackinnon hadn't kept his promotional and entrepreneurial ear to the ground, many of the big names he booked to play halls on his circuit would never have appeared in those communities.

He brought The Silver Beetles (later to become The Beatles) north of the Border for the first time in 1960. They got a lukewarm reception.

Sir Paul McCartney has spoken about playing a local hall in Alloa, in May of that year and how he, John Lennon and George Harrison split their £60 fee with two bandmates – bassist Stuart Sutcliffe and drummer Tommy Moore – as they provided back-up for Liverpudlian singer, Johnny Gentle.

McCartney, then just 17, had to get permission from his father to travel to Scotland because he was supposed to be studying for his exams.

He said: “The audiences didn’t know who we were, nobody did. We were just Johnny Gentle’s backing band. They didn’t even know who he was!”

Thanks to this extraordinary ex-soldier with the indomitable spirit, dances staged right across the Scottish Borders and increasingly further afield, had music provided by the best of local talent as well as the big emerging names.

The Bee Gees appeared in Selkirk's Victoria Hotel; Robert Plant and His Band of Joy - an early incarnation of Led Zepplin - played Melrose Corn Exchange; The Who made a big impression at The Volunteer Hall in Galashiels and The Animals were brought to play The Drill Hall in Dumfries. The list goes on and on.

In the decade before he had delivered a firm declaration of intent by booking most of the pop idols of the time to make sure his ever-growing circuit featured cream-of-the-crop acts, and worked with artists such as Jimmy Shand and Acker Bilk, who always gave him the credit for launching his career and putting his on the road to stardom.

Legendary Scots rock ‘n’ roller Bob Fish who played lead guitar with popular Hawick bands The Diamonds and The Ceiling Light Machine in the ‘60s before forming Johnny & The Roccos, who recorded over twenty albums over a 46-year career before finally hanging up his Strat last year, was glad to hear about the long-overdue tribute. He’s sure he played every venue where Mackinnon ran events, and was eventually “discovered” by top producer Mike Vernon who’d recorded Eric Clapton, Fleetwood Mac, John Mayall, Ten Years After and Chicken Shack in the Sixties.

Recalling Mackinnon's early influence on his career, he said: “He took me from being a bedroom ‘wannabe strummer’ with wholly unrealistic aspirations, to enabling me to go out in the world and find what life was really all about on the road, and for that I am eternally grateful. A solid grounding in the school of life thanks to Duncan's early encouragement.”

The year-long project just underway, with support from the William Grant Foundation, is being co-ordinated by MacArts in Galashiels, where it will eventually be housed, and aims to capture stories and memorabilia relating to Mackinnon’s Border Dances empire, by creating a digital archive.

Glasgow-based Professor Alison Hurley, who is conducting much of the research and recording the interviews, said: “One of the areas we don't have a lot on at the moment is contributions from the people who went to the various concerts and dance halls – it would be good to have some women's voices in the mix, too.”

Mackinnon’s son, Duncan jnr., now living in France with his wife, Maggie, who is Project Manager, says that, somewhat surprisingly, very few photographs of his father have surfaced.

“It would be terrific if more turned up to be added to the archive of period pictures that have currently been collected,” he said.

“I have a memory of sitting on a tractor as a lad with John Lennon on dad’s farm in 1960. I wish someone had taken a shot of that!”

Those with contributions to make should contact Project Manager Maggie Marr: maggie.marrfr@gmail.com