The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Dundee club where Bee Gees graced the stage
City’s Top Ten Club was place to see chart stars
It was the club known as ‘Dundee’s top pop spot’ which regularly brought the UK’s top pop stars and bands to the city.
The first show at the Top Ten Club took place on October 14 1962, with guest stars on the opening night Emile Ford and the Checkmates, Robby Hood and his Merrie Men, Johnny Washington, Johnny Hudson and the Hi-Four, and Clint and the Tornadoes.
Andy Lothian and Freddie Saunders started the club, which ran once a week from the Palais Ballroom on Tay Street, and it soon garnered a reputation as the place to see top chart stars – including the Bee Gees, who played there in 1967 with entry just five shillings.
They played songs such as Massachusetts and To Love Somebody, and it was also the gig that played a part in the early romance between Maurice Gibb and Lulu.
Gibb invited Lulu’s brother Billy to the Dundee show during their early courtship and he was “bowled over” as he hung out backstage with the brothers.
Gibb told his friends that night that “whatever happened” he was going to marry Lulu.
That marriage did eventually happen but something that failed to materialise was an appearance by Tom Jones at the Top Ten, despite being offered to the club for just £10.
Former Dundee radio DJ Pat Kelly said: “The Bee Gees played in 1967 and the Hollies were also regulars, while many others performed there including the Overlanders and Mike Sarne, who reached the top spot in 1962 with Come Outside.”
The Bee Gees had just returned to Britain in 1967 after emigrating to Australia and walked into a recording deal with the Beatles’ publishing company.
Also regulars at the Top 10 Club at that time were David and Jonathan.
Produced by George Martin from the Beatles, David and Jonathan had hits with a Lennon/McCartney composition Michelle and Lovers of the World Unite.
The Poor Souls were other regulars at the venue, and another popular band who appeared on a regular basis was the Honours, whose lead guitarist Jim Kelly was born and grew up in Dundee.
Although the Palais continued for many years, the Top Ten Club finished just before the start of the 1970s – the era when the Bee Gees became disco kings.