Edinburgh's Greatest Hits: New book seeks to reclaim capital as Scotland's original 'music city'

Jackie Dennis became Scotland's first pop star when he shot to fame in 1958.

It is the city that gave birth to the Bay City Rollers, The Proclaimers, Shirley Manson, The Rezillos, Young Fathers, The Incredible String Band and The Waterboys.

But Edinburgh’s music scene has long been seen as the poor relation to Glasgow's.

Now a new book is set to reclaim the Scottish capital as the birthplace of the country’s thriving live music industry.

The city’s most influential acts, venues, gigs, music bars, record shops and club nights have been brought together for a celebration of its musical heritage.

Leith Theatre has reopened for events like the Edinburgh International Festival in recent years. Picture: Gaelle Beri

It highlights the part played by the likes of David Bowie, Nirvana, The Beatles, The Fall, The Clash and Bob Dylan in Edinburgh’s musical story so far.

The book, billed as “a compilation of intriguing tales, curious facts and landmark moments”, also recalls the sparsely-attended gigs staged in Edinburgh by acts who go on to fill stadia and arenas around the world, the city’s one-hit wonders and one-off events which put the capital in the international spotlight.

Edinburgh’s Greatest Hits, which is published next month, has emerged from a collaboration between the Edinburgh Music Tours company and Edinburgh Music Lovers, a promotional campaign to champion Edinburgh as a “music city”.

The new book - which Ian Rankin has written the foreword for – is appearing at a time of optimism for the future of the music scene in Edinburgh, following the closure of several key venues since the turn of the century and the city’s failure to create new facilities for indoor or outdoor concerts.

The new Edinburgh's Greatest Hits book features the record shop Vinyl Villains. Picture Peter McNaught

Leith Theatre and the Royal High School are reopening to the public, intimate venues like Sneaky Pete’s are rated among the best in Britain and the first new concert hall for a century is to be built off St Andrew Square.

The book states: “The capital is acclaimed for its annual arts festival yet music remains a lesser-known string to its cultural bow.

"It is not widely-known, for example, that Edinburgh pioneered the live music scene in Scotland for a long period during the 70s, 80s and 90s before Glasgow developed its well-deserved reputation.”

Music critic Fiona Shepherd has written the book with her fellow tour company founders Jonathan Trew and Alison Stroak, as well as Edinburgh Music Lovers director Jim Byers.

Sandy Bell's has long been one of Edinburgh's best-known folk music bars.

Edinburgh’s Greatest hits charts the evolution of the city’s music scene as back as the 50s and the rise to fame of Leith-born Jackie Dennis, Scotland’s first ever pop star, who was promoted as a kilted version of Elvis Presley, and was the first British rock and roll singer to appear on TV in the United States.

Influential figures featured include the folklorist, poet and singer-songwriter Hamish Henderson, the 60s girl group The McKinleys, Bruce’s Records founder Bruce Findlay, who would go on to manage Simple Minds, and Bob Last and Hilary Morrison, founders of the Fast Product record label.

Famous episodes featured in the book include Bob Dylan’s 1966 gig with an electric guitar, days after his “Judas” heckle in Manchester, when his Edinburgh fans apparently tried to drown him out with harmonicas, Nirvana’s impromptu gig to around 20 punters at the Southern Bar in 1991, and a busking stint on Princes Street by The Clash singer Joe Strummer in 1985.