Born on December 14: Mike Scott, Scottish singer of the Waterboys is also a globetrotter

A genius jack-of-all-trades, the Scottish artist was born in Edinburgh in 1958. A talented multi-instrumentalist, he has composed the melodies and written the lyrics for the Waterboys for over four decades. With flashes of unspeakable beauty…

An English teacher, his mother introduced him to great literature from his earliest childhood. It's certainly partly thanks to her that he juggles so skillfully with words whose sounds and alliterations become like so many additional notes to explore. He also studied English literature and philosophy at the University of Edinburgh. Alongside his own texts, sometimes veritable social or poetic frescoes, we will find works by Yeats (to whom he dedicated an entire album in 2011), George MacDonald and William Butler. Although he left the university benches after only a year, this brief passage has left a lasting mark on his writing style.

As a teenager, while perfecting his guitar technique, he found in the repertoire of American country singer Hank Williams a guiding star that would guide his first steps in music. Subsequently, he would take great pleasure in exploring countless musical universes, sometimes damn electric, sometimes soberly acoustic. Not to mention constant references to country. Even today, Mike Scott remains elusive…

Under the pretty name of Another Pretty Face, his first group, between punk and power pop, released a few singles, obtained one or two covers of specialized magazines, a session with John Peel at the BBC and even released an album with an interminable title ("I'm Sorry That I Beat You I'm Sorry That I Screamed But For A Moment There I Really Lost Control" in 1981). All this remains anecdotal…

By founding the Waterboys in 1983, notably with Karl Ballinger, another artist with immense talent, Mike Scott thus found an outlet for his prolific pen and his multifaceted musical inspirations. For four decades, musicians have succeeded one another aboard the crew whose unwavering captain remains Mike Scott. He has accumulated around fifteen albums with his group as well as two interesting solo chapters including "Bring 'Em All In" in 1995 on which he plays all the instruments. The group's eponymous album in 1983 lays, still in the background with notably "A Girl Called Johny", the foundations of what the singer would eventually qualify as "The Big Music". This is also one of the major titles of the second album "A Pagan's Place" in 1984. Already a lush, captivating, intoxicating and complex masterpiece...

Rather than making your way through Mike Scott's creative labyrinth, I offer you a few entry points that can only convince you to continue your exploration. Based on Russian folk music and inspired by the book "The Forgotten Soldier" by Guy Sajer, "Red Army Blues" is a heartbreaking anti-war anthem that resonates insistently as the atrocities of the war in Ukraine continue. During these eight epic minutes, crossed by Anthony Thistlewaite's saxophone, we obviously think of Stalin's atrocities that Putin is now trying to overcome. Let's also point out the spoken word crescendo (spoken more than sung) of "My Wanderings In The Weary Land" on the album "Good Luck, Seeker" in 2020. The hypnotic declaration "Love Walks In" on "Out Of All This Blue" in 2017 that we imagine dedicated to his second wife, the Japanese artist Megumi Igarashi married in 2016. Without forgetting "Mornjng Came Too Soon" on the same album...

Of course, Mike Scott also composes pieces less successful than others but since "A Girl Called Johnny" (a tribute to Patti Smith in 1983), he takes us with him from the banks of Connemara to Nashville, from Edinburgh to Shibuya, this district of Tokyo that impressed him so much.

n 2025, Mike Scott indulged himself with a little treat—not even a selfish one—with "Life, Death and Dennis Hopper," a biographical album about the tumultuous life of the actor discovered alongside James Dean in Nicholas Ray's "Rebel Without a Cause" (1955). It was the perfect pretext for a series of concerts highlighting all facets of this elusive and wildly excessive character, particularly his work as a director and photographer. Not forgetting to then perform his band's classic hits, Mike took great delight in recounting a few juicy anecdotes, such as his whirlwind marriage to Michelle Phillips of The Mamas & The Papas, who filed for divorce after only eight days. Hopper reportedly said, "But the first week went extremely well."

On tour with the Waterboys in 2026 in Great Britain and Ireland. All dates here: www.mikescottwaterboys.com

(Stéphane Soupart - Tr.: MH - Photo: © Etienne Tordoir)
Photo: Portrait of Mike Scott of the Waterboys in Brussels (Belgium) on September 17, 1985