Hamish Stuart

Glasgow-born Hamish Stuart shot to fame in the 1970's as the falsetto voice and guitarist of the Average White Band, his distinctive songwriting and vocal and guitar style helping pave the way to AWB's extraordinary worldwide success. After AWB split up Hamish spent the rest of the 1980's touring, writing and recording with a galaxy of soul legends, including Diana Ross, Aretha Franklin and George Benson. During this period of his life Hamish also worked in the Studio with a number of high-profile soul artists, like Jeffrey Osborne for whom he co-wrote and produced "Soweto"; like Chaka Khan for whom he arranged and played on the debut hit single "I'm Every Woman" and then co-wrote the US #1 "Whatcha Gonna Do for Me?" and its follow up "If Your Heart Isn't in It"; like Atlantic Starr for whom Hamish wrote and produced their debut hit and like Diana Ross and The Temptations, who recorded Hamish Stuart songs during the 1980's.

However, in 1988 Hamish went through a major change of direction when he was invited to become the cornerstone of Paul McCartney's 1989 -to -1993 record-breaking touring and recording band, criss-crossing the World and recording five Albums with McCartney, including Paul's last UK #1 Album "Flowers in the Dirt" and the first-ever "MTV Unplugged" Album. After McCartney stopped touring at the end of 1993, Hamish re-located from Los Angeles to London where he has since pursued all manner of musical escapades encompassing solo Albums with his regular "Hamish Stuart Band" and with his respected collaborators Jim Mullen, Pino Palladino and Ian Thomas as "Jim Jam". From time to time Hamish can be found making typically stunning guest vocal appearances at Events like Quincy Jones' 64th Birthday party and with Bonnie Raitt and with Michael McDonald at the Royal Albert Hall.

Late last year Hamish - a keen student of Brasilian sounds and music - was offered the opportunity to undertake his first full-blown Record Production job since the 1980's when Sony Japan invited him to Produce the new Album from their Swedish superstar MEJA. Together Hamish and Meja have created the beautiful "Mellow", a subtle blend of classic American and Brasilian songs plus seven new compositions by Meja and her regular collaborators. Bringing all of his skills as a writer, multi-instrumentalist and one of the all-time great white singers to bear upon the project, added to 30 years experience of recording, Hamish has crafted a beautiful album which marks a total return to the form that made him such a sought after musical collaborator in the 1980's, but with a "new jazz/bossa" rather than a classic soul twist for the 21st Century. On time, on budget (which was very "competitive" shall we say) - and bang on the money - the Album is scheduled for release by Sony in Japan, Asia and Europe in January 2004. R.O.M. believes that It will establish HAMISH STUART as a new force in the Production of real music played by real musicians featuring real artists, which increasingly is what the discerning music-buying public are crying out for.