Pilot (Scottish band)

Pilot are a Scottish rock group, formed in 1973 in Edinburgh by David Paton and Billy Lyall. They achieved considerable mainstream success during 1974–1975, primarily with the release of "Magic" which reached number one in Canada, five on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, six in Ireland and eleven in the United Kingdom. Follow-up single "January" released in 1975 reached number one in Australia, Ireland and the United Kingdom, as well as reaching eighty-seven in the United States. In the United Kingdom, "January" was awarded a Silver certification from the BPI.

Their debut studio album, From the Album of the Same Name was released in 1974, and reached number eighty-two on the United States Billboard 200 Albums Charts.

Career

Formation (1972–1974)

Paton and Lyall had briefly been substitute members of the Bay City Rollers before that band's breakthrough. Joined by drummer Stuart Tosh, the band recorded several demos during 1972 and 1974 at Craighall Studios, Edinburgh, where Billy Lyall was the resident engineer. They were signed to a management contract with Nick Heath and Tim Heath, sons of British bandleader Ted Heath, and John Cavanagh. In due course they signed to a worldwide recording deal with EMI Records. After the recording of their debut album, From the Album of the Same Name, guitarist Ian Bairnson (who had played on the album as a session musician) joined the band permanently.

Breakthrough (1974–1978)

The 1974 single "Magic" from their first album, produced by Alan Parsons and written by Lyall and Paton, was a No. 11 UK and No. 5 US success. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the R.I.A.A. in August 1975. The song "January" gave them their greatest success in the UK, securing the number one spot in the UK Singles Chart on 1 February 1975. It stayed at number one for three weeks. It also went to number one in Australia where it stayed up top for eight weeks; in the United States, it reached the lower end of the Hot 100. However, the group failed to make the top 30 again. Paton and Bairnson also played on Kate Bush's second album Lionheart (1978).

The band's other singles chart successes were "Call Me Round" and "Just a Smile" (both 1975), which each hit the top 40 in the UK and nowhere else. With a few exceptions, he recorded all the instruments himself.

In 2020, the label Cherry Red (Rough Trade) released a 4-CD box set containing all 4 albums of the band plus some rare recordings as bonus tracks. In July 2021, Pilot (Paton and Bairnson) released The Magic EP, which features 4 completely re-recorded older songs: "Magic", "January", "Just a Smile" and "Over the Moon". "Over the Moon" was completely rearranged for this purpose. A compilation of Pilot's greatest hits The Magic Collection was released on 21 March 2022.

Ian Bairnson died on 7 April 2023, aged 69. He had been diagnosed with dementia.

Band members

;Current members

David Paton – lead vocals, bass, guitar (1973–1977, 2002, 2007–present)

;Past members

Billy Lyall – keyboards, flute, vocals (1973–1976; died 1989)
Stuart Tosh – drums, percussion, vocals (1973–1977, 2007–2015)
Ian Bairnson – guitar (1974–1977, 2002, 2007–2016; died 2023)
Steve Swindells – keyboards (1976–1977)

;Touring members

Calais Brown – guitar, vocals (2007–2017)
Kenny Hutchison – keyboards, vocals (2007–2017)
Simon Marlin – guitar (2016–present)
Irvin Duguid – keyboards, vocals (2017–present)
Dave Stewart – drums, percussion, vocals (2016–present)

Discography

Studio albums

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

! rowspan="2"| Year

! rowspan="2"| Album

! colspan="2"| Chart positions

! width="40"|US

! width="40"|UK

! style="width:40px;"| CAN RPM 100

! style="width:40px;"| GE

! style="width:40px;"| IRE

! style="width:40px;"| NLD

! style="width:40px;"| SA

! style="width:40px;"| UK

! style="width:40px;"| US Hot 100

! style="width:40px;"| US Cash Box

|rowspan="3"| 1974

| "Ra-Ta-Ta" (as Scotch Mist)

| style="text-align:center;"| —

| "Just a Smile"

| style="text-align:center;"| 49

| style="text-align:center;"| —

| "Magic"

| style="text-align:center;"| 12

| style="text-align:center;"| 1

| style="text-align:center;"| 39

| style="text-align:center;"| 6

| style="text-align:center;"| 8

| style="text-align:center;"| 11

| style="text-align:center;"| 5

RIAA: Gold
CAN: Gold

|rowspan="4"| 1975

| "January"

| style="text-align:center;"| 1

| style="text-align:center;"| —

| style="text-align:center;"| 21

| style="text-align:center;"| 1

| style="text-align:center;"| 28

| style="text-align:center;"| —

| style="text-align:center;"| 1

| style="text-align:center;"| 87

BPI: Silver

| "Call Me Round"

| style="text-align:center;"| —

| style="text-align:center;"| 34

| style="text-align:center;"| —

| "Just a Smile" (new version)

| style="text-align:center;"| —

| style="text-align:center;"| 31

| style="text-align:center;"| 90

| style="text-align:center;"| 75

| "Lady Luck"

| style="text-align:center;"| —

|rowspan="3"| 1976

| "Running Water"

| style="text-align:center;"| —

| "Canada"

| style="text-align:center;"| —

| style="text-align:center;"| 23

| style="text-align:center;"| —

| "Penny in My Pocket"

| style="text-align:center;"| —

|rowspan="2"| 1977

| "Get Up and Go"

| style="text-align:center;"| —

| "Monday Tuesday"

| style="text-align:center;"| —

| colspan="13" style="text-align:center; font-size:9pt;"| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory.

Soundtracks

Happy Gilmore (included in the soundtrack) (1996)
Herbie: Fully Loaded (included in the soundtrack) (2005)
The Magic Roundabout (included in the soundtrack) (2005)
Eve and the Firehorse ("Magic" included in the soundtrack) (2005)
Doogal (included in the soundtrack) (2006)
Ozempic ("Magic" melody used as a jingle in pharmaceutical TV commercial) (2018)

References

External links

Official website
Pilot biography by Greg Prato, discography and album reviews, credits & releases at AllMusic
Pilot discography, album releases & credits at Discogs
Pilot albums to be listened as stream on Spotify

Career

Formation (1972–1974)

Breakthrough (1974–1978)

Band members

Discography

Studio albums

Soundtracks

See also

References

External links