Real Lives: Musician Pete Seaton was noted for his generosity

Published on Monday 28 September 2009 11:07

Musician, jazzman, shop-owner and father figure to countless others, Pete Seaton has died at the age of 82.

Peter Murray Seaton was born in Leith on 31 December, 1927 and passed away on 22 September after a short illness.

Pete was a professional musician all his working life. Only a few weeks ago he was entertaining friends in his garden on his chosen instrument, the accordion.

From leaving school in his native Leith, aged 14, he took a job as a butcher's boy to pay for lessons on the accordion his aunt bought for him.

He was called up to the army at 18 and in uniform he was a cook but he vigorously pursued his musical interest and he played in army dance bands.

Finding work back home in Edinburgh was no problem. He was resident pianist in the West End Cafe, a thriving night spot in Shandwick Place.

His most prestigious engagement was on accordion and piano with the Jimmy Walker Quintet from 1948 until the early 1950s before he joined the Maurice Little Band at the George Hotel.

The wages there were not enough to support his wife and family and he took a day job in Gordon Simpson's music shop in Stafford Street.

His ready rapport with customers led him to open his own shop in Hope Park Terrace.

His son Murray, 57, said: "It prospered for all of 25 years because dad became a kind of father figure to countless young musicians, many of them hard up financially. They'd drop in needing new guitar strings, for example, but short of cash. Dad almost invariably wouldn't see them off the premises without meeting their needs with his okay-pay-later policy. And almost without exception they return to settle the debt."

While minding the shop, Pete's passion for music, jazz-influenced whenever possible, saw him form an 18-piece rehearsal big band. He wrote most of the arrangements, and when the New Seekers came to Edinburgh for the Eurovision Song Contest at the Usher Hall, the band performed in the Assembly Rooms for the Seekers party after the show.

For many years Pete was resident pianist in the Caledonian Hotel lounge. He looked up from the keyboard one evening, gobsmacked, to find Mel Torme by his side, appreciative of Pete's musicianship. This was the American superstar singer who had made No 1 in the charts with Mountain Greenery.

On another occasion at the Caley, Elton John, who was staying there, hinted at sharing the piano. Pete apologised, saying the he'd be finished for the night in five minutes but stressed he'd be delighted to take over the piano stool.

One of Pete's oft-mentioned anecdotes is that in the earliest days of the Bay City Rollers they had their van broken into and all their instruments stolen. Pete replaced them all, saying they could settle financially when convenient. And they did, before long.

He was working at Fountainbridge Palais dance hall when he met his wife, who died eight years ago.

"He was a most caring and generous man, not to mention his natural-born talent as a musician," said Murray, speaking for the family, 47-year-old twin sisters Liz and Jayne and Robert, 53. He is survived, too, by four grandchildren.

The funeral will be held on Wednesday at 10am at Mortonhall.