Formed in Edinburgh in November 1972, Bilbo Baggins may have suffered through their connection to The Bay City Rollers (Tam Paton was the manager for both bands).
The group signed with Polydor in October 1973 with their debut single, Saturday Night, released in May 1974.
They appeared on Lift Off but the single did not chart. Their second and third singles (The Sha Na Na Song and Hold Me) suffered a similar fate.
Despite regular TV appearances on Supersonic, Shang-A-Lang and The Arrows‘ own television show, chart success continued to elude the band and in 1977 they parted company with Tam Paton and Polydor.
Signing with the small Lightning Records label, the group released the singles I Can Feel Mad and She’s Gonna Win (their most successful single commercially), finally getting to appear on Top of the Pops – by now officially called, simply, Bilbo.
Real commercial success continued to evade the band and they folded in 1979 with debts of £100,000.
Colin Chisholm
Vocals
Brian Spence
Guitar, keyboards, vocals
Gordon ‘Tosh’ McIntosh
Guitar, bass, vocals
James ‘Dev’ Devlin
Bass, vocals
Gordon ‘Fid’ Liddle
Drums, vocals
Peter Vettesse
Keyboards
