Stories from the Stars

How did you get started in journalism?

I remember going to the careers master when I was 13 or 14, and I said I wanted to get into journalism. He pooh-poohed it immediately and said in 10 years’ time, there won’t be any such things as newspapers. Forget it. I walked out thinking “I’ll show you”.

I ended up working on a building site, making good money, £70-£80 a week. But in 1976 I wrote on spec to my local paper the Bishopbriggs and Springburn Times and offered to do a pop column for free.

Little did I know they were looking for a reporter to cover the Springburn area. I met the editor, Nina Young, and we just clicked. I was offered £19 a week plus £1.50 in bus fares. It was a big cut in income, but I thought this could be my only chance.

How did that work out?

Within 30 seconds of starting, I was on my first job – someone had won £1,000 on Spot the Ball and I had to go up there with a photographer to find out what they’d be spending it on.

I loved it there. Springburn was a very working-class area, and they used the local paper as a sword to fight authority.

Michael Martin, who later became Speaker of the House, became the MP and he was a great help in the early days. If he had a story, he would tip me the wink. So that’s basically how it started.

And the music journalism?

The Sunday Mail wanted a pop page by somebody in tune with people who went to gigs, bought records, hung out in bars in the town and with the bands and stuff. They offered me £120 a shift to do it.

I was at the Edinburgh Rock Festival in Ingliston, which had Van Morrison and Talking Heads and the Undertones and the first column was due out the next day. There was no name for it, they had tried to ring me but I was in a muddy field with 25,000 people and there were no mobile phones in those days.

I came back about half one, two in the morning with my mates. I went to Central Station and proudly bought the Sunday Mail. I opened it and kind of slid down the wall because it says “Pop Gossip by the Disco Kid”. I was almost suicidal, this was supposed to be about credibility, 3.5 million readers and they call me the Disco Kid.

I walked into my local pub for a game of pool on Monday night and the first wise guy who came up to me said “Go for your gun Disco”. It lasted about 18 months before they put my name on the column with a tiny photo.

You had some amazing moments – what about the one with Grace Jones?

I’d interviewed Grace Jones in a hotel in London, and she was great but very, very intimidating. Everyone remembers how she hit Russell Harty live on TV.

Her publicist invited me to Milan because she had a new album coming out. I said my nerves were still shot from the last time but he said, Nah, she’s a pussy cat.

So, we went to Milan on the Saturday, it was a real thrill as I’d never been there. But Grace and her entourage had had a bit of a party and no one – absolutely no one – was allowed to disturb her.

Sunday, still nothing, I had to go home. We called the taxi and were about to get in. Suddenly we were told she would do the interview now. The taxi driver said we had about 20 minutes or we’d miss the plane so I rushed up to the 10th floor.

The suite was chaos, with bottles and food everywhere and full of beautiful, model-type people all lying around and in skimpy clothes. I asked where Grace was and was told she was in the bath.

I just had to steam in, and there she was in her naked glory – except there was all the soap suds covering her. I had to sit on the toilet to interview her. In the end, I said I had to get a picture, and we did. Me, sat on the bathroom floor with Grace Jones leaning out, covered in soap suds and her arms around me giving me a hug.

And your time in the White House?

I went to interview Paulo Nutini in Washington. He was playing at the 930 Club, which is like their version of the Barrowland. The interview was OK and it was going to be the cover of the Sunday Mail magazine, we needed a picture – I was under pressure.

Then Paulo’s tour manager said how about in front of the White House?

When we’d been in doing the interview, a girl had phoned up and said she was a huge fan and couldn’t get a ticket.

The tour manager was about to say, no, I’m sorry, you know, it’s completely sold out when she said the magic words, I worked for President Obama at the White House. That changed things, she was on the guest list with a plus one in return for a private tour.

So, we jumped into the car, me and Paolo, two guys in his band, the publicist, and a local photographer. We were in there for like 50 minutes. You weren’t meant to take photos, but we had all these pictures.

When I got out, I phoned the picture editor who asked if we’d got pictures of Paulo outside the White House. I said no. He went mad, saying but you know we need this for the front of the magazine. I said, hold on though, I haven’t got any pictures of Paulo outside the White House, but I’ve got about 30 pictures of him inside the White House.

Billy Sloan was the Showbusiness Editor of the Sunday Mail for many years and has written about music for all of Scotland’s major newspapers. He hosts his own show for BBC Radio Scotland.