Hamish Stuart

About

From Wikipedia:

James Hamish Stuart (born 8 October 1949, Glasgow, Scotland) is a guitarist, bassist, singer, composer and record producer.

Stuart attended Wellington College, where he joined Tony Wade and Mark Waters in 1963 to form a “college” band. At the time he played drums.

He recorded a couple of singles with his first band, the Dream Police, before he was invited to join the recently formed Average White Band (AWB) in June 1972.

A member of AWB from 1972 to 1982, he went on to work with Aretha Franklin, Chaka Khan and David Sanborn.

He wrote Atlantic Starr’s 1986 hit “If Your Heart Isn’t in It” and songs for Smokey Robinson, Jeffrey Osborne, George Benson and Diana Ross.

Stuart joined Paul McCartney’s band (where he switched between guitar and bass as necessary with McCartney) for McCartney’s 1989 comeback album, Flowers in the Dirt, and appearing on several other albums and McCartney’s world tours of 1989 and 1993.

After collaborating on numerous albums for other artists, he recorded his first solo album, Sooner or Later, in 1999, 17 years after leaving the Average White Band, which he released on his own record label, Sulphuric Records.

Apart from playing with his own group, the Hamish Stuart Band, and with his fellow Glaswegian guitarist and friend Jim Mullen, Stuart has also produced Gordon Haskell and the Swedish singer-songwriter Meja.

In 2006, Stuart toured as the bass player with Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band. He joined Starr again for a 2008 tour, where he performed “Pick Up The Pieces” and “Work to Do“. He once again toured with the band in 2019 playing “Pick Up the Pieces“, “Work to Do”, and “Cut the Cake“.

Hamish Stuart is a really good soul singer and because he’s in the group and he’s a writer, it was a natural thing to suggest, ‘why don’t we try to write together?’ […] We wrote a couple. I think our voices blend amazingly well together when we sing harmonies.

Paul McCartney, Movin’ On home video, 1993

Hamish is a really good soul singer. I think our voices blend amazingly well together when we sing harmonies. He’s also a really good guitar player, so if I’m ever looking for some rhythm guitar parts he’s the obvious person to give them to. He used to play a lot of the rhythm riffs in the Average White Band. And again, he’s really keen, he’s always up for whatever you’re doing. He’s good to work with and he’s a good friend. 

Paul McCartney, Club Sandwich, 1993

Last updated on June 19, 2019