Meet the modest dad-of-two from Renfrew whose talents have made him one of the worlds’ most famous musicians

FOR a man who has been immortalised as a musical legend, rubbed shoulders with Royalty and film stars and headlined festivals across the globe, Gary Blair is a shockingly modest man.

“I suppose you just never see yourself as one of the very best, even when people you admire are telling you so,” he said, sitting in his home, cluttered by gleaming trophies.

“The cast of my hand has been placed in a wall in Italy with the 60 greatest accordionists of all time and two years ago I was one of three players in the world to receive an honour from the world governing body.

“But every single time I receive an award I’m gobsmacked – honestly shocked.”

Whether he believes it or not, Gary is a world class accordion player, known for his talent in more countries than he’d care to mention.

He practices, teaches and plays with the nine valued instruments in his collection, including a custom made Ј6,500 accordion which was given to him as a present from an Italian manufacturer.

The globe-trotting father of two, who lives in Renfrew, caught the bug at the tender age of eight, as he watched his famous dad, Jimmy, perform weekly on popular Scottish TV show Jigtime back in the 60s.

As Jimmy Blair and the Scotia Players strutted their stuff on the box in the corner of the living room, Gary’s young mind was plotting dreams of his own.

At 46 years old, he now admits there’s little else for him to achieve with his beloved accordion in his arms.

He enrolled in his father’s music school and practiced nightly before entering his first major competitions as a teenager.

At 13 he was playing at clubhouses on Paisley Road West for visiting high-spirited highlanders who “were quick to tell you if you weren’t good enough or had done something wrong” after pubs had closed at night.

With the double whammy of contrasting learning curves Gary was quick to rise from the local scene and gain recognition at a national level.

By 17 he was crowned the UK accordion champion with medals in the classic, traditional and polka sections, and lifted the sought-after Bell Trophy.

A blossoming career in teaching music to young students put an end to Gary’s competing days.

He joked: “It just didn’t look right to have a teacher and his pupils entering into competitions, so I backed out before I got beat!

“Anyway, it was taking a year just to learn the classical pieces by heart before paying them in competition so it was good to free up time to learn some more continental classics.

“Accordionists usually give up competing by their early 20s anyway, so I just stopped a little sooner.”

As his reputation grew, so did the prestige of the shows Gary was invited to. However, as he has found out throughout his glittering career, some events are best left well alone.

He said: “My band was invited over to the Cannes Film Festival in France to play a promotional gig for a Scottish movie that was being shown but it turned out to be a nightmare.

“All the big actors where there but if you weren’t a film director in that industry, they just weren’t interested.

“The only good thing about that trip was the fact that we were paid in bottles of whisky. They gave us six bottles each but we weren’t allowed to bring it back into the United Kingdom at that time so we gave bottles to the taxi driver, chamber maid, receptionist and obviously had a couple ourselves – it was a lot of fun.

“After that I did the Scottish BAFTA awards for a couple of years and then the British BAFTA awards came to Scotland as well.

“Princess Anne and the entire casts from EastEnders, Coronation Street, Emmerdale and all those other soaps were all in the audience but it never matters to me if there’s one person or 25,000 people there, I just enjoy playing.”

Major tours of America, Germany, Holland, Italy, Belgium, Iceland, Dubai, four T In The Park festival shows and a New Year special at George Square, Glasgow, in front of 25,000 frozen revellers have all cemented Gary’s position as one of the world’s greatest accordion players.

But it’s the memories of the globe’s biggest accordion music gathering in Quebec, Canada, which he recalls as his favourite times playing live.

He added: “Headlining in Las Vegas with a guy from the Jay Leno show trying to take the mickey out of me, or collecting my small envelope of cash at T In The Park, in line between the likes of Oasis and Travis who are getting suitcases of cash stand out as funny moments in my career.

“But playing at the Montemangey Festival in Quebec is truly a great, great honour.

“The world’s finest players are lucky to be asked to play once and I have somehow managed to get an invite twice – a third time would be incredible.”

The jovial dad has vowed to continue playing live and teaching the accordion to young upstarts, including his own son, also Gary, who has already started picking up trophies at national level.

Marcosignori , Gary Blair and Danille Ravaglia.

As well as having his hand print cast in stone in the birthplace of the accordion, Italy, Gary also proudly boasts a prestigious “Honoured Friend to the Accordion” salver awarded by the world governing body CIA.

He is only one of three players ever to receive such an award.

“At one show I did, the promoter put in the programme that ‘Gary Blair is to the accordion what David Beckham is to football,” he recalled.

“I thought it was a lot of nonsense myself!”

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