LEGENDARY Scottish rocker Alan Mair, formerly of The Beatstalkers and The Only Ones, is releasing a new single more than 50 years after his initial success.

The new single, Eyes to the Sky, was written and produced by bassist Mair, who also performs the vocals.

Mair says that Eyes to the Sky is an accumulation of his experiences and knowledge, which includes having songs written for his then-band The Beatstalkers back in the 1960s by a young songwriter called David Jones, later to be much better known as David Bowie.

Mair recalled: “I was born into a musical family. My grandpa played the dulcimer and he travelled from Glasgow to New York in 1920 to play some concerts, and my dad played the piano at a professional level, so music was in my blood.

“I was only 13 years old when my mum came home with an acoustic guitar that she had bought for me at the auctions. It was the biggest surprise ever, I was ecstatic.

“And for my group The Beatstalkers to then become Scotland’s top group only five years later, selling out venues all over the country, causing the wildest scenes and riots with 7000 fans in Glasgow George Square, thousands of fans in Central Station and at Glasgow Renfrew Airport was more than I could ever have dreamt of.

“It was the wildest scenes and hysteria ever witnessed by a Scottish group and all of this was done without a hit record, it was only from the band’s live performances.”