As songwriter, singer, and bass player of the 70s band Pilot, David Paton has done it all in his long and successful career…
By Ian Woolley
Working with some of the biggest names in pop history, his life is laid out in his new autobiography called simply ‘Magic, The David Paton Story’, released on April 28th.
Pilot
Pilot’s first chart hit came in 1974 with “Magic” but was he surprised by how quickly success came?
“Yes. Within a year of signing to EMI, we had “Just A Smile” lined up as our first single. I remember Annie Nightingale saying that whoever wrote this has got a long career in the music business which at the time was very flattering to hear from somebody of such stature.”
“Although that peaked at No.31, the success of “Magic” took the song to no.11 in the UK at that time. It was like a rollercoaster and it took us by surprise.”
A catchy pop song that’s never dated I put to him.
“No, especially in the US. There’s a pharmaceutical company over there that uses it and apparently, it’s being advertised every twenty minutes. So it’s never gone away and it’s very flattering for my 12-year-old grandson to come up to me and say my pals want to meet the guy who wrote “Magic”. It’s such a thrill across the generations.”
When Pilot split due to the mismanagement at the time, the only way Paton could get away was to, in his words, ‘diversify’. From Rick Wakeman to Camel and Kate Bush, nothing was off-limits.
“Luckily for us, people liked what they heard on Pilot songs getting that bass player for that song or that guitarist you know. That’s how we moved away from Pilot and the mess that had been created and have a successful career in session work.”
Now his fans can get hold of his incredible life story with his new autobiography ‘Pilot – The David Paton Story’. Although the limited hardback sold out last November, the paperback version is released this month.
David says “The last fifteen years or so I’ve been writing down snippets and a lot of the book is related to people I worked with because that’s what a lot of people are interested in. What’s it like to work with Chrissie Hynds or Chris de Burgh or Paul McCartney and as the years went by I had enough for a book.”
“What we’ve ended up with is quite a comprehensive book of my life from beginning to end so I’m very happy with it.”
Read the full interview we had with David Paton in the April issue of the Beat (part 2 concludes in the May issue). Order your copy today.
In it, he talks about losing band member and songwriting partner Billy Lyall, working with Elton, Kate Bush, Alan Parsons, and Rick Wakeman, and his short spell in one of the most popular bands around, The Bay City Rollers.
Magic – The David Paton Story (by Sonicbond Publishing) paperback edition is published on April 28th. Available at all good stores or Burning Shed website.