Thomas Dougal "Tam" Paton (5 August 1938 – 8 April 2009) was a pop group manager, most notably of the Scottish boy band the Bay City Rollers.

Biography

Born in

Prestonpans Prestonpans ( gd, Baile an t-Sagairt, Scots language, Scots: ''The Pans'') is a small mining town, situated approximately eight miles east of Edinburgh, Scotland, in the Council area of East Lothian. The population as of is. It is near the si ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, he was the son of a potato merchant. Paton initially drove a truck to aid the Bay City Rollers financially. He guided the band through to their period of success during the mid-1970s, nurturing their image of being the "boys next door". He was responsible for beginning a myth that the band members preferred drinking milk to alcohol, in order to cultivate a clean, innocent image. However, vocalist

Les McKeown Leslie Richard McKeown (12 November 195520 April 2021) was a Scottish pop singer. He was the lead singer of the Bay City Rollers during their most successful period in the 1970s. Early life McKeown was born in Broomhouse, a suburb close to the ...

later said Paton introduced the band members to drugs. "When we got a wee bit tired, he'd give us amphetamines," McKeown recalled in 2005. "He'd keep us awake with speed, black bombers. You end up almost showing off to each other what stupid drugs you've taken." In 1979, Paton was fired as manager, and subsequently developed a multi-million pound

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

business based in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

, Scotland. In the late 1970s Paton managed the band

Rosetta Stone The Rosetta Stone is a stele composed of granodiorite inscribed with three versions of a decree issued in Memphis, Egypt, in 196 BC during the Ptolemaic dynasty on behalf of King Ptolemy V Epiphanes. The top and middle texts are in Ancien ...

, and had a romantic relationship with the guitarist Paul Lerwill, who later changed his name to Gregory Gray. Paton was openly

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

and was involved in a number of legal controversies which related to his sexuality. In 1982, he was convicted of gross indecency with two teenage boys aged 16 and 17, below what was then the legal age of consent of 21, and served one year of a three-year prison sentence. In later years, Paton suffered from poor health including two

heart attacks A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...

and a stroke. He was arrested on

child sexual abuse Child sexual abuse (CSA), also called child molestation, is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include engaging in sexual activities with a child (whet ...

charges in January 2003, but was later cleared of all allegations. In April 2004, Paton was convicted of supplying

cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: ''Cannabis sativa'', '' C. indica'', and '' C. ruderalis''. Alternatively ...

and fined £200,000. In 2003, he was accused of trying to

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ag ...

the Bay City Rollers guitarist, Pat McGlynn, in a hotel room in 1977. The police decided there was insufficient evidence for a prosecution. Paton died of a suspected

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...

aged 70 at his

home on 8 April 2009. At the time of his death he weighed .

References

Bibliography

* Stambler, Irwin. ''Encyclopedia of Pop, Rock & Soul''. 1974. St. Martin's Press, Inc. New York . {{DEFAULTSORT:Paton, Tam 1938 births 2009 deaths 20th-century Scottish criminals 21st-century Scottish criminals Bay City Rollers Drug dealers Gay men British LGBT businesspeople Scottish LGBT people People from Prestonpans 20th-century Scottish businesspeople Scottish music managers Scottish people convicted of drug offences