James Gillespie was born in Scotland, Glasgow and from his early years was devoted to music, especially acoustic music, Dylan and Neil Young being two of the artists whose music led him to purchase a Fender acoustic guitar.
It became an occasional hobby, but as the years passed he got to grips with the chords, inspired because he wanted to sing and those basic chords enabled him to perform.
Although James took to gigging late in life he was very busy within the entertainment industry in its other forms. In the early seventies he moved to the Isle of Man, famous for its TT races, and found employment at the Palace Hotel and Casino, a large entertainment complex in the island’s capital. Over a twenty year he was eventually appointed to the board of directors and in his role as Entertainment Director he was responsible for the operation of the complexes, three nightclubs, bars, security and all live entertainment.
One of those entertainment venues was the Palace Lido, at that time the largest ballroom in Europe with a capacity of 4500. In his capacity as Entertainment Director James was responsible for the appearance of Chuck Berry, 10cc, The Rolling Stones, Tom Jones, Mott the Hopple, Thin Lizzy, Status Quo, Pink Floyd, Hot Chocolate, Sweet, Lulu, Slade, T Rex, Billy Connolly – the list goes on. The Palace Lido was eventually awarded the Best Nightclub in the UK in 1987 under James stewardship.
James eventually went on to own and operate his own entertainment facilities on the Isle of Man and Scotland.
Eventually though he decided to step back from the operation of nightclubs to the slower pace of a life of music and travel. The fender guitar he had bought many years ago now came into its own and James took to the stage. Since then has travelled from venue ot venue gigging mostly in Ireland, the UK, and Europe, covering his favourite acoustic performers and putting his own distinctive mark on their songs.
“It was great watching, and dealing with all those great bands and artists in the past, but l always had a longing to play live to an audience, so l got on with it. That path has taken me to the Alcoutim Festival, and l really look forward to my time there, it’s a lovely place.”
