Skids
A Scottish new wave band founded in Dunfermline in 1977 by Stuart Adamson (guitar/vocals, b. 11 April 1958, Manchester, UK), Richard Jobson (vocals) Tom Kellichan (drums) and Willie Simpson (bass). After issuing Reasons on their own No Bad label, the group were signed by Virgin. David Batchelor produced Sweet Suburbia and The Saints Are Coming before Into The Valley reached the UK Top 10 in 1979. Despite criticism of Jobson's lyrics as pretentious, the Skids enjoyed a further year of chart success as Masquerade and Working For The Yankee Dollar reached the Top 20. Both came from the second album, which was produced by Bill Nelson of Be-Bop Deluxe. Soon afterwards the band was hit by personnel changes. Russell Webb and Mike Baillie replaced Simpson and Kellichan and more crucially, the Skids’ songwriting team was split when Adamson left after the release of the third album, which proved to be the group's most commercial, reaching the Top 10 and containing the minor hit Circus Games. Without Adamson, JOY, an exploration of Celtic culture, was more or less a Jobson solo effort. The Skids dissolved in 1982, with FANFARE issued by Virgin as a mixture of greatest hits and unreleased tracks. In 1983, Stuart Adamson launched the career of his new band, Big Country. Richard Jobson recorded one album with a new band, the Armoury Show before pursuing a solo career as poet, songwriter and broadcaster. He released albums on Belgian label Les Disques Crepuscules and Parlophone.