Friends and family gather for funeral of Forth One legend

Published on Tuesday 11 August 2009 09:52

FRIENDS and colleagues have paid tribute to the distinctive voice that launched Forth One as he was laid to rest yesterday.

Steve Hamilton, who died last week aged just 59, played the first record on the Capital's first independent radio station in January 1975, putting on city group Pilot's chart-topper January.

Steve went on to work alongside TV stars such as John Leslie and Nicky Campbell as the voice of the Wheel of Fortune.

Mr Leslie was among the mourners at Mortonhall Crematorium yesterday, and was seen in tears at one point at the loss of his showbiz friend.

Mr Leslie's brother Grant Stott, who presents the mid-day show on Forth One and was unable to attend the funeral due to his on-air commitments, paid tribute to the man he described as "one hell of a nice guy".

He said: "Anyone who grew up in Edinburgh in the late-70s would have listened to Steve Hamilton on Forth One.

"I got to know him through his work with John, the various media events we attended and through the voice coaching lessons he did at the Forth One studios.

"We were just talking about him last week as he had planned to come back to do some more sessions in the next few months, and we had always joked about writing a book together about the history of Forth One. He figured that between us we could come up with a few stories about what went on here these past 34 years.

"I don't know anyone who had a bad word to say about him."

Born in Dumfries, Mr Hamilton moved to Edinburgh at the age of 18 to work for Austin Reed in Princes Street. After a brief time working in economics, he switched to drama school and applied for a job with Radio Forth.

After Forth, he became a continuity announcer and news reader with STV. In 1985 he lost his first wife Joan to cancer, bringing up his son and stepdaughter alone before marrying second wife Jilly. He went on to become the voice of Wheel of Fortune. In later years he did voice-overs for commercials.

Tony Currie, transmission director and continuity announcer for the BBC, worked with Mr Hamilton for more than ten years on in television.

He said: "At STV his tongue-in-cheek style was new – and everyone loved it. He didn't take anybody or anything seriously and that was part of his appeal – Steve was always a hoot on screen."

His funeral was an upbeat humanist "celebration of life" and his coffin was brought in to the sounds of Take a Walk on the Wild Side by Lou Reed and Come to the Cabaret by Liza Minelli.

Forth One director Cath Kirk said: "We were very sad to hear of Steve's untimely death. Our thoughts go out to his wife Jilly and his family."

Mr Hamilton is also survived by his daughter Debbie, son Nick and brother Campbell.