Poetry puts author Jim in Dreamland

Following famous brother’s footsteps

Jim Millar is following in this world-famous brother’s footsteps by penning a book.

But while Mark writes about superheroes like Spider-Man and the X-Men, Jim has turned his hand to the world of poetry.

It marks a new string to multitalented Coatbridge man Jim’s bow after he spent much of the Sixties and Seventies entertaining music fans across Monklands as lead vocalist with The Concordes.

The 60-year-old has just completed his second book of poetry, entitled ‘Dreamland’, following on from his critically acclaimed first collection ‘Poetry in Motion’.

‘ Dreamland’ has been given a local flavour as feelings expressed by someone visiting their home town of Coatbridge are among its poems, which focus on a wide variety of subjects including love and romance, theatre, music and travel.

Jim told the Advertiser: “The poems in ‘Dreamland’ cover aspects of life – some happy, some humorous – and look at some of the pressures facing people in society today.

“There is also a nice little nostalgic piece in the poem ‘Get Ready ‘Cause Here We Come’, which I wrote about my firstmusicalfirst musical groupTheInterestgroup The Interest.

“We were all Coatbridge boys. Along with my cousin and friends we started the band while we were in our teens and had an absolute ball.

“‘Poetry in Motion’ received a lot of favourable reviews and I’m hoping that Dreamland can follow in its footsteps.”

While Jim is enjoying his literary career, he has no intention of hanging up his microphone.

He is known as Paul French on the entertainment circuit.

Prior to going solo, he sang for a number of years with bands including The Concordes, appearing on the same bill with acts including The Bee Gees, The Merseybeats, The Walker Brothers,Br Jimmy James and the VagabondsVa and Wayne Fontana and The Mindbenders.

As a solo act he has also sang on sta stage with Susan Maugham, Unit 4 Pl Plus 2 and The Flirtations and was a re regular part of the Hector Nicol Show, wh which played in clubs and theatres th throughout Scotland.

Jim said: “I haven’t stopped singing sin since my days with The Concordes and do a lot of cabaret as Paul French. It’s an absolute blast.

“I’ve played with some of the biggest na names in music and have memories to last a lifetime.”

Jim also spoke of his pride for brother Mark, who has written some of the most popular comic books of all time and produced movie versions of his work, including ‘Kick-Ass’ and ‘Wanted’.

Jim said: “Mark is doing fantastically well – not at all bad for a boy from Townhead.

“Despite all of his success Stateside, I still get to see him quite a lot and I am very proud of his achievements.

“It’s pretty amazing that we’ve both turned our hand to literary works, although in very different ways.”

Both ‘Dreamland’ and ‘Poetry in Motion’ are available from Amazon and both books can also be purchased in Kindle form.

Well-versed Jim Millar