Tribute to Will Starr of Croy, Stirlingshire, king of the solo Scottish 3-row button box accordion.

Will Starr - 'Daddy of them All' A Tribute to Will Starr, King of the solo Scottish accordionists Scotland's best accordionist and solo performer, Will Starr's music, his recordings and his life The Will Starr Band, The music of Scotland, Scottish country dancing, Scottish dance bands, Scottish culture, traditional accordion music of Scotland, Will Starr jigs, strathspeys, reels, pipe marches, schottishe, slow airs, mazurkas, hornpipes, polkas, retreats, two steps and waltzes, Musette accordion music compositions, Scottish accordion dance music, Will Starr of Croy, Stirlingshire, Scotland The Kilt is My Delight, The White Heather Group, Morino accordion by Hohner of Germany, button key accordions, Bevin Boy, Ivan Starovisky, Wiiliam Starrs, Scottish Half-Hour, The Scottish Music Hall Society, Robert Wilson Scottish tenor singer, Harry Gordon Scottish comedian entertainer, Scottish legends, Scottish music hall entertainers, Scottish accordion champions,

His Teenage Years:

At the age of thirteen, while making a solo guest appearance at a County Dinner in the Grand Hotel in Glasgow, Will was introduced by Sir Ian Colquhoun to Jock Kilpatrick, the manager of the Pavilion Theatre in Glasgow. Jock invited him to join the cast as a solo performer, and after being granted permission to leave school early, Will began his professional stage career.

The next four years saw Will develop his own unique style of playing. His technical skills became renowned and his repertoire extended to include the full range of traditional Scottish music, Continental music and the classics.

A teenage Will Starr with his 3-row Franchetti button accordion

When World War II broke out, Will was seventeen and was eligible for military service in the armed forces, however, since he had been born into the mining community of Croy, he was already working underground in the mines. There he had contracted pleurisy which left a shadow on his lung and caused him to fail the Army medical examination. Consequently, he was sent to work as a �Bevin Boy� in the coal mines at Number 3 Gartshore Colliery, Dullatur.

His fellow miners were so considerate of Will's status as a highly talented young stage performer with a great future, that they allowed him only to work at the pit bottom - not at the coal face - where the work was less demanding. He was also allowed to wear gloves to protect his 'valuable musicians' hands from any damage done by the hard manual work of maneouvring coal tubs on and off the mine shaft cage.

Historical Note:
Britain experienced great difficulty in importing coal during World War II. This meant that the production of indigenous coal from British mines had to be immediately increased.

The Minister of Labour at the time was Ernest Bevin and in an effort to alleviate the coal shortage, he proclaimed that twenty percent of young men, eligible to serve in the armed forces, should be enlisted to work in the coal mines. These conscript miners were given the nickname �Bevin Boys�.

Will was well aware that it was at the same Gartshore Colliery on the 28th July 1923, that an underground explosion had killed 8 men. Nevertheless, in 1939 he started work in the coal mines as a 'Bevin Boy' in the service of his country.

At the age of eighteen, he made his first 78 record in London for Parlophone. The music was his own composition, "The Jacqueline Waltz". At that point the tune did not have a title, so he decided to name it after his current girl friend, Jacqueline Georgson, an English chorus girl whom he had met in a show.

In 1940, while playing in a Sunday night concert in Dunoon, Will was introduced to Robert Wilson, the famous Scots tenor. Wilson was so impressed by the playing ability and stage presence of the young eighteen year old, that he invited him to join the 'White Heather Group' of Scots entertainers as a touring professional. That was the start of a long-time friendship and show business association, for they appeared on stage together for many years thereafter and Will made many recordings with "Thistle Records" of 65 Berkeley Street, Glasgow, a record company owned by Robert Wilson.

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His Teenage Years:

Historical Note:

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