Heir guitar
Billionaire’s son launches music career... after his dad declares his children won’t inherit a fortune
HIS wealthy father is friend to former US presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama and has vowed to give a billion pounds away to charity in his lifetime.
But from an early age it was made clear to Jamie Hunter that he could expect no such generosity himself as his business tycoon parent was concerned about the effect his fortune might have on his children.
Now the 26-year-old whose father is Scotland’s first homegrown billionaire, Sir Tom Hunter, has proved he is more than capable of pursuing his own career without the Bank of Mum and Dad.
The Scottish Mail on Sunday can reveal that, as plain ‘Jimmy Hunter, from Glasgow’, he’s about to hit the big time in a rock band that has already supported Eric Clapton. Hunter and the Bear, whose latest single is released this week, is about to begin a UK tour.
Philanthropist Sir Tom, 56, who has another son and a daughter with his wife Marion, has spoken publicly of his wish to keep his children grounded and allow them to fall or rise on their own decisions.
And yesterday he was clearly proud of the son he still calls Jamie, saying: ‘He wants to be known as his own man, not the son of Sir Tom Hunter. It’s been a very important part of who he is, and I respect that.
‘Marion and I made a decision some time ago that we weren’t going to let our kids inherit great wealth. We’ve seen too many young people corrupted by it and we wanted to bring up decent, hard-working children, which I think we’ve done. ‘Both of us are from quite ordinary backgrounds and we told them to go and find out what they wanted to do and we would support them to do it.
‘With Jamie, what I’m really proud about is he and his band are travelling the country in a Transit van, carrying their own equipment around and doing this themselves.’ The band began life as a duo, formed by Jamie Hunter and his friend Will Irvine from Achiltibuie in Wester Ross, at university in Newcastle. There, Irvine studied English with drama and Hunter, according to his father, had ‘planned’ to do a business course – until music took over. Later, the pair were joined by drummer Gareth Thompson from Brighton and bassist Chris Clark, from Shrewsbury. For years Jamie Hunter hid the family resemblance behind a mane of hair and hipster beard, which became a bit of a
‘He wants to be known as his own man’ ‘I was greetin’ when I saw him on stage’
family joke. ‘I wish I had his hair!’ laughs Sir Tom. In 2014, the band got their big break supporting Eric Clapton at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow and the Leeds Arena. Sitting in the audience, the billionaire felt his chest would burst with pride. ‘I don’t mind admitting I was greetin’ the night I saw Jamie on stage supporting Eric Clapton,’ admits the man who sold his Sports Division chain for £290 million in 1998 and went on to become a billionaire. Now, despite giving money away, he still has an estimated fortune of £576 million. ‘But money isn’t everything, he reflects. ‘I just want to see my kids happy.’