Tam dips his toe in the river

Published on Saturday 9 May 2009 11:05

HE'S starred with Mel Gibson in Hollywood blockbuster Braveheart, played a doctor in Cutthroat Island with Geena Davis and even turned down a role with Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean.

Yet despite a stack of film and TV appearances, Tam White refuses to describe himself as an actor – "I'm always a bit suspect to call myself that," he says.

Then again, the self-confessed "grumpy old grandad" is more commonly known as one of the greatest European blues singers, having gigged with soul legends across the world. If there's one man who can prove that you don't need to come from Memphis or Chicago to sing the blues, then Tam's your man.

Whatever his title, Tam's upcoming part in BBC drama River City is yet another role he can add to an already lengthy list of on-screen appearances.

Tam, who plays loveable rogue Kid Mullen, the father of Jimmy Mullen, in a one-off episode to be aired on Tuesday, causes a stir in Shieldinch when he tries to charm the ladies – unsuccessfully – and accidentally elbows one character, Ewan Murdoch, in the face.

"I'm on the run from loan sharks and I end up in Shieldinch," he

'The music industry wants to change people. They tried to make me into Tom Jones'

says. "I get up to a few naughties while I'm there. I try it on with Eileen Donachie and she rejects my advances, as any sensible woman would!"

Billy McElhaney, 51, who lives in Liberton and plays Jimmy Mullen in the programme, says of his on-screen dad: "Tam was absolutely excellent in the role. There's not a person in the building that he didn't charm, from the producers to the canteen ladies – everybody was knocked out by him!"

The 67-year-old's first acting role came in 1990 on BBC drama series The Wreck on the Highway, in which he played John McGuire, a similar character to his River City tole.

"I always seem to end up working for the BBC as a cowboy," he chuckles. "Maybe they're trying to tell me something."

One of Tam's most notable roles came in 1995 when he played the chief of Clan MacGregor in the iconic film Braveheart, which Hollywood star Mel Gibson directed and also starred in.

He smiles: "Braveheart was a big one, although every Scottish man that could walk and talk got auditioned for that. Mel was a decent guy to work for. He was a hard grafter, and I got on well with him. It was an experience."

However, it took the A-list star some time to get used to Tam's sense of humour, of which he was given a taster during the first night of filming.

"I was doing my favourite scene where my particular bit involved running towards Mel and the rest of the troop," explains Tam.

"We were standing having a cigarette and I said, 'Excuse me Mel, is this a remake of Chariots of Fire'? He said 'No, why?'. 'Because I've done more running than Eric Liddell did in that film', I replied.

"Mel looked at me blankly and walked away. He came back later on when he saw the funny side of it. There's no irony in the Americans' humour, so he was quite flabbergasted that I should think that we were actually making a remake of something."

Now a great-grandad, the veteran blues singer has supported a string of stars including BB King, Al Green, Van Morrison, James Taylor, Paul Jones and Charlie Musselwhite, as well as fronting The Tam White Band in a sell-out week of shows at the prestigious Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in London in the 1990s.

"That for me was like playing Hampden or Wembley," Tam beams.

The blues writer and singer was also the voice behind Robbie Coltrane's Big Jazza in the BAFTA award-winning BBC TV series, Tutti Frutti, in 1987.

Tam was brought up in a flat on the Grassmarket, and lived there until he was 13, when the family moved to Saughtonhall. His mother, Marion, and grandmother, Agnes Sim, enjoyed singing and his great-grandfather was bandmaster in Gilmerton.

His interest in blues music was sparked when he was hitch-hiking – with his kilt on – in Holland at the age of 18. The Ray Charles hit What'd I Say was playing from the car's radio. "That was it after that," says Tam.

Tam formed his own band in Edinburgh called The Boston Dexters in 1964, of which he was the singer. They moved to London, signed to Columbia Records, and for six months in the mid-1960s was resident at the Pontiac Club in Putney alongside the legendary John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, who also featured Eric Clapton in their line-up.

"Eric thought we were wild Scottish men, which we were in these days," says Tam.

The band split after around three years and Tam went solo.

He adds: "People in the music industry want to change people. They were trying to make me like Tom Jones, which was never my style."

He's now the singer and acoustic guitarist with three-man outfit, Shoestring, which has been going since the mid-1990s.

As ever with musicians, there have been lean times and Tam has fallen back on his trade of stonemasonry. He completed a five-year apprenticeship in the craft for James Turner's in Gorgie, after leaving school at 15.

Even acting has provided some less than glamorous moments – including being offered a part in an advert for Ross Frozen Foods in the early 1990s, which he declined.

"My agent called me up on a winter's afternoon and I was skint. She said the famous film director Ken Russell wanted to see me for an advert. It was based on the musical Oliver and the line I had to sing was 'food GloriRoss food'.

"That night I was walking up and down the living room rehearsing it to myself, singing 'food GloriRoss food' when I decided not to go down that road. I phoned my agent and said 'sorry, I can't do it. Tell Ken he will have to sing it himself'.

It's not the only role he's turned down. Despite winning a part in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest in 2006, he decided it wasn't for him.

"I didn't have the energy to do it. I suffer from emphysema and moving fast seems to kill me."

This summer, he'll be back performing music. Tam White and the Sermon Orchestra play the Queen's Hall on 29 August, as part of the Fringe Festival, and he has also got a solo gig lined up at the Acoustic Music Centre at St Bride's in Edinburgh on 22 August.

Will he be hitting our TV screens again any time soon, though?

"It's a bit of a merry-go-round this music and acting thing, you never know what's going to happen, but I suppose I have had quite an exciting life and it's not finished yet."

• River City is broadcast on Tuesday at 8pm on BBC One