BA Robertson

Brian Alexander Robertson is a Scottish musician, composer and songwriter. He had a string of hits in the late 1970s and early 1980s, including "Kool in the Kaftan", "Knocked It Off", "To Be or Not to Be" and "Bang Bang", a tongue-in-cheek commentary on famous historical and fictional couples. With Mike Rutherford of Genesis, he wrote the Grammy-nominated and Ivor Novello Award-winning song "The Living Years" , which was a number one hit in the US, Canada, Australia and Ireland, and reached number two in his native UK. He has also written music for films and been a television presenter.

Early life Born in Glasgow, Robertson was educated at the former Allan Glen's School, Glasgow, and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, formerly the Royal Scottish Academy of Music & Drama.

Career He released his debut album Wringing Applause, recorded with Terry Manning, on the Ardent Records label (also home of Big Star) in 1973, but it was to be a further six years until he found success in the United Kingdom chart.

Robertson had hits between 1979 and 1981 in the UK Singles Chart, the first of which – "Bang Bang" – reached number 2 in September 1979. Follow-up singles "Knocked It Off", "Kool in the Kaftan" and "To Be or Not to Be" reached chart positions 8, 17 and 9 respectively.

Robertson wrote "We Have a Dream" for the 1982 World Cup Scotland squad,

Robertson appeared on the Scottish segment of BBC's Children in Need telethon on 14 November 2008, performing a re-worked version of "We Have a Dream" alongside Edwyn Collins, The Gospel Truth Choir, the Tartan Army, and a host of Scottish celebrities. On 16 January 2010, he performed with a live band in Glasgow for the first time since 1981 as part of the Celtic Connections Festival. "A Scottish Songbook" featured a number of diverse artists performing songs written by Scots, and Robertson performed "Twisted" (written by Annie Ross and Wardell Gray) and his own "The Living Years" – backed by house band Session A9 and The Gospel Truth Choir. The event was filmed for subsequent broadcast by BBC Scotland.

A new version of "The Living Years" was released as a single in July 2020, under his own name. A newly released version of "Silent Running" by Robertson was issued on 22 July 2022, with all proceeds from the recording for the Mail Force-Ukraine Appeal.

On New Year's Day 2024, BBC Radio Scotland broadcast Tartan Top Of The Pops celebrating the Scots who had performed over the 60 years of the programme. In an interview with Grant Stott it was revealed that Robertson's first of 18 appearances was playing keyboard with Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel.

Discography Albums

Songs written for others Excludes covers of songs originally sung by Robertson

Filmography Film

Television