# Jimmy Shand > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Jimmy_Shand > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Jimmy_Shand.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Shand > Source revision: 1349362433 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{for|the footballer|Jimmy Shand (footballer)}} {{Short description|Scottish musician (1908-2000)}} {{EngvarB|date=September 2014}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2014}} {{More citations needed|date=July 2010}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = Jimmy Shand | image = Jimmy Shand statue Auchtermuchty.jpg | image_size = | caption = Shand statue in [Auchtermuchty](/source/Auchtermuchty) | background = non_vocal_instrumentalist | birth_date = {{Birth date|1908|1|28|df=y}} | birth_place = [East Wemyss](/source/East_Wemyss), [Fife](/source/Fife), Scotland | death_date = {{Death date and age|2000|12|23|1908|1|28|df=y}} | death_place = | years_active = | genre = [Scottish country dance](/source/Scottish_country_dance) Music | website = {{url|http://www.jimmyshand.com/}} }} '''Sir James Shand''' (28 January 1908 – 23 December 2000) was a Scottish musician who played traditional Scottish dance music on the [accordion](/source/accordion).{{cite book|title=[The Virgin Encyclopedia of Fifties Music](/source/Encyclopedia_of_Popular_Music)|editor=Colin Larkin|editor-link=Colin Larkin (writer)|publisher=[Virgin Books](/source/Virgin_Books)|date=2002|edition=Third|isbn=1-85227-937-0|page=387}} His signature tune was the "Bluebell Polka". ==Life and career== James Shand was born in [East Wemyss](/source/East_Wemyss) in Fife, Scotland, son of a farm ploughman turned coal miner and one of nine children.{{Cite web|url=http://www.theguardian.com/news/2000/dec/27/guardianobituaries2|title=Obituary: Sir Jimmy Shand|date=27 December 2000|website=the Guardian}} The family soon moved to the [burgh](/source/burgh) of [Auchtermuchty](/source/Auchtermuchty). The town now boasts a larger than life-sized sculpture of Shand. His father was a skilled [melodeon](/source/Melodeon_(organ)) player. Jimmy started with the mouth organ and soon played the fiddle. At the age of 14 he had to leave school and go down the mines. He played at social events and competitions. His enthusiasm for motor-bikes turned into an advantage when he played for events all round Fife. In 1926, he did benefit gigs for striking miners and was consequently prevented from returning to colliery work. One day Shand and a friend were admiring the instruments in the window of a music shop in [Dundee](/source/Dundee). His friend said: "It wouldn't cost you to try one," so Shand walked in and strapped on an accordion.{{citation needed|date=October 2019}} The owner, Charles Forbes, heard Shand play and immediately offered him a job as travelling salesman and debt-collector. He soon acquired a van and drove all over the north of Scotland. He switched to the British [chromatic button accordion](/source/chromatic_button_accordion), an instrument he stuck with for the rest of his life. Being a keen motorcyclist, Shand was also an enthusiastic supporter and spectator at the annual [Isle of Man TT](/source/Isle_of_Man_TT) races. He also sponsored a motorcycle road racer from [Errol, Perthshire](/source/Errol%2C_Perthshire) called Jack Gow, a multiple Scottish Motorcycle Racing champion and later a motorcycle dealer in Dundee. Jack Gow was the son of Andy Gow who drove the bus which transported the Shand tour. Shand's interest in motorcycles began when a boyfriend of his sister had problems with his bike, which had broken down. Shand repaired it and was allowed to use it.{{citation needed|date=October 2019}} He failed an audition for the [BBC](/source/BBC) because he kept time with his foot. At a time when gramophones were very much luxury items he made two records for the [Regal Zonophone](/source/Regal_Zonophone) label in 1933. His career took off when he switched to making 78s for the [Beltona](/source/Beltona_Records) label (1935–1940). Most of the Beltona recordings were solo, but he experimented with small bands. This boosted sales. He appeared in a promo film shown in cinemas. While the image showed his fingers moving in a blur, Shand was disappointed to hear the sound track playing a slow air. He was prevented from joining the [RAF](/source/RAF) by a digestive disorder, and spent the war years in the [Fire Service](/source/Fire_Service). On New Year's Day morning in 1945 he made his first broadcast with "Jimmy Shand and his Band". This was the first of many such BBC radio and television appearances. ==Works== Soon after the war he became a full-time musician, and adopted a punishing lifestyle later adopted by rock bands.{{citation needed|date=October 2019}} He would play [Inverness](/source/Inverness) one night, [London](/source/London) the next night, and still drive the van back to bed in [Dundee](/source/Dundee).{{citation needed|date=October 2019}} He took his trademark bald head, [Buddy Holly](/source/Buddy_Holly) spectacles and full [kilt](/source/kilt)ed regalia, Scottish reels, jigs and strathspeys to Australia, New Zealand and North America, including [Carnegie Hall](/source/Carnegie_Hall) in New York.{{citation needed|date=October 2019}} Now on the [EMI](/source/EMI) [Parlophone](/source/Parlophone) label, he released a single each month in the mid-1950s, including his only top 20 hit in the [UK Singles Chart](/source/UK_Singles_Chart) – the "Bluebell Polka" (1955).{{cite book | first= David | last= Roberts | year= 2006 | title= [British Hit Singles & Albums](/source/British_Hit_Singles_%26_Albums) | edition= 19th | publisher= Guinness World Records Limited | location= London | isbn= 1-904994-10-5 | page= 493}} It was produced by [George Martin](/source/George_Martin). Shand was awarded an MBE in 1962. This period is remembered affectionately by [Richard Thompson](/source/Richard_Thompson_(musician)), who played Shand tunes on his ''[Henry the Human Fly](/source/Henry_the_Human_Fly)'' and ''[Strict Tempo!](/source/Strict_Tempo!)'' albums. Thompson's Scottish father had been a keen Shand collector.{{citation needed|date=October 2019}} In 1991, Thompson paid tribute to Shand with an original song, "Don't Sit on My Jimmy Shands", from his 1991 album ''[Rumor and Sigh](/source/Rumor_and_Sigh)''.{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/rumor-and-sigh-mw0000263404 |title=Rumor and Sigh – Richard Thompson |publisher=[AllMusic](/source/AllMusic) |access-date=27 November 2024 |last=Deming |first=Mark}} {{Quote box |width=300px |align=right |quoted=true |bgcolor=#FFFFF0 |salign=right |quote = Call me precious I don't mind 78s are hard to find You just can't get the shellac since the war This one's the Beltona brand Finest label in the land They don't make them like that any more. |source = from "Don't Sit on My Jimmy Shands" by [Richard Thompson](/source/Richard_Thompson_(musician))}} In 1972, Shand went into semi-retirement. From then he played only small venues in out-of-the-way places for a reduced fee. He was made a freeman of Auchtermuchty in 1974, North East Fife in 1980 and Fife in 1998. He became Sir Jimmy Shand in 1999. His portrait is in the [Scottish National Gallery](/source/Scottish_National_Gallery), close to [Niel Gow](/source/Niel_Gow). In 1983, he released a retrospective album with the cheeky title ''The First 50 Years''. At the age of 88, he recorded an album and video with his son, ''Dancing with the Shands''. More than 330 compositions are credited to Jimmy Shand. He recorded more tracks than the Beatles and Elvis Presley combined.{{citation needed|date=October 2019}} In 1985, [British Rail](/source/British_Rail) named a locomotive ''Jimmy Shand''. He was dissatisfied with the [chromatic button accordion](/source/chromatic_button_accordion)s available on the market in the 1940s so he designed his own one. The [Hohner](/source/Hohner) company manufactured the "Shand Morino" until the 1970s. He is the only artist worldwide to have his name used by the Hohner company as a model name for a musical instrument.{{citation needed|date=October 2019}} There is a biography ''The Jimmy Shand Story: The King of Scottish Dance Music'' by Ian Cameron (2001). A number of his older recordings have been re-released by [Beltona Records](/source/Beltona_Records). Since the 1950s the crowd at [Dunfermline Athletic F.C.](/source/Dunfermline_Athletic_F.C.) have left the ground after the game to the sound of Shand's "Bluebell Polka".{{Cite web|url=https://www.dunfermlinepress.com/news/17812774.former-voice-east-end-park-dies-88/|title = Former 'voice of East End Park' dies at 88| date=2 August 2019 }}{{Cite web|url=https://www.masonrytoday.com/index.php?new_month=1&new_day=28&new_year=2016|title = Today in Masonic History - James "Jimmy" Shand is Born}} ==References== {{Reflist}} {{refbegin}} * Howard, Rob (2003) ''An A to Z of the Accordion and related instruments'' Stockport:Robaccord Publications {{ISBN|0-9546711-0-4}}, p. 98 {{refend}} ==External links== *Music video {{YouTube|9I320RBBT34|"Bluebell Polka"}} *{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20070515042238/http://www.beltona.co.uk/jimmy-shand-c-75.html The Beltona Record Company – Jimmy Shand]}} unavailable 6 July 2022{{dl|date=March 2025}} *[http://www.jimmyshand.com Official website] {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Shand, Jimmy}} Category:1908 births Category:2000 deaths Category:People from Auchtermuchty Category:People associated with Dundee Category:Scottish accordionists Category:Knights Bachelor Category:Musicians awarded knighthoods Category:Members of the Order of the British Empire Category:Parlophone artists Category:Scottish miners Category:20th-century Scottish male musicians Category:20th-century accordionists --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Jimmy Shand](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Shand) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Shand?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.