Eric Faulkner (born 21 October 1953 as Eric Falconer) is a guitarist, songwriter and singer, best known as a member of the Scottish pop band the Bay City Rollers.

His father, George Moir Falconer, was a trade unionist, being a shop steward and Scottish Trade Union Congress delegate, as well as a member of the B. C. P. (British Communist Party). Faulkner’s own left-wing tendencies have taken him to numerous Trades Union benefit shows such as UNISON and the Left Field Stage at Glastonbury.  Under the banner of “Another World Is Possible” it was arranged for him to end his performance there by introducing Tony Benn for the British Politician’s final annual Glastonbury appearance.

In 2006 Faulkner sat in for Jake Burns in Pauline Black’s Three Men and Black for an Arts Centre tour, including a performance at Guilfest when Faulkner led the crowd in a tribute to the recently deceased Syd Barrett with a poignant off the cuff rendition of “See Emily Play”.

On Burns’ return, Faulkner continued the working relationship as support on their tours.

Over the years, other Festival performances for his solo acoustic set have included Guilfest, The Acoustic Festival of Britain, Fèis Ìle (Islay Festival of Music and Malt), Parkfest, The Edinburgh Guitar and Music Festival and The Heart of Hawick Music Festival.

As well as playing numerous Arts Centres and Singer/songwriter Circles Faulkner was also performing intimate shows in libraries and house concerts until, in February 2015, he almost died when he contracted viral encephalitis. Although initial recovery seemed rapid, he was left with post encephalitic syndrome. Continuing a slow but steady recovery, Faulkner has written and recorded new material, some of which can be found at www.faulknermusic.netand it is hoped that he will soon be back on the road gigging.

Over the years Faulkner and his fan base have raised many thousands of pounds for charities such as The Encephalitis Society, RNLI, Guide Dogs, Salvation Army, PRS Members Fund, Help Musicians and Disasters Emergency Committee (peaceforukraine.bandcamp.com).

Biography

Early life 
Faulkner was born at the Western General Hospital, Edinburgh, Scotland. As a child, he learned to play the viola and played for a time in the Edinburgh Youth Orchestra including one memorable performance for Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, in Leith Town Hall. He also plays the violin, mandolin, bass and keyboards. He attended Moredun Primary School in Edinburgh, and later Liberton High School, where he gained 8 ‘O’ Grades and excelled at rugby and music.

His father was a trade unionist, being a shop steward and Scottish Trades Union Congress delegate, as well as a member of the Communist Party.

At thirteen years old Faulkner formed his first high school band, The Witness, which became Sugar and then KIP, whose lineup included members Ken Stott (now a respected actor) and John Devine. 

His early years are covered in the first part of his autobiography “An Edinburgh Lad”.

Bay City Rollers 

In 1972 Faulkner and Devine joined The Bay City Rollers. The original Rollers, Nobby Clark, Alan and Derek Longmuir had secured a record deal with the UK record label, Bell Records.  Until the end of 1973 the band’s line up was Nobby Clark, Alan and Derek Longmuir, Devine and Faulkner. During that time the band worked with the production team, Ken Howard and Alan Blakely, who had previously produced hits for Peter Frampton’s earlier band “The Herd” and Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Titch. 

Their first production for the band was the song “Mañana”. With it winning The Radio Luxembourg Grand Prix song contest, the song gave the band its first European hit.

Mañana failed to make any impact on the UK charts but the band’s growing fan base in the UK almost made the next single, “Saturday Night”, produced by Phil Coulter and Bill Martin, a hit with it peaking at No 51 in the UK charts.

The band continued playing UK, gig after gig, with more fans outside the small, full to capacity, venues, than inside.  The phenomenon that would become known as Rollermania was starting to grow. A gig at Sheffield City Hall gave the UK market its first sighting of true Rollermania with hundreds of Roller fans screaming the rafters off. 

When, in dispute with the group’s manager, Tam Paton, Clark left the band in late 1973. The “Saturday Night” track was re-voiced by the group’s new lead singer Les McKeown. In 1975 the single, “Saturday Night” would go on to be a No. 1 hit in the USA and around the world. 

In early 1974 the band finally broke through the UK charts with the song “Remember”, also first voiced by Clark in 1973.  It too was produced by Phil Coulter and Bill Martin. The association with Radio Luxembourg proved to be a major asset as the station gave the song, what was then known as, “A Power Play”, being played on the hour, every hour, for weeks. This, along with the band’s ever-growing screaming fan base at live gigs, catapulted “Remember”, without any mainland UK airplay, straight into the charts on its first week of release. 

The Rollers and Rollermania had arrived.

Later works 
In 2007, Faulkner continued as a solo artist and appeared at the Glastonbury Festival as a protest singer in support of British politician Tony Benn. It was arranged for him to end his performance by introducing Tony Benn on the Left Field stage under the banner "Another World is Possible".

Festival performances for his solo acoustic set have included The Acoustic Festival of Britain, Fèis Ìle (Islay Festival of Music and Malt), Parkfest and The Edinburgh Guitar and Music Festival.

In February 2015, Faulkner almost died when he contracted viral encephalitis. Although initial recovery seemed rapid, he was left with post encephalitic syndrome. During his recovery in 2017 he wrote and recorded new music.

In July 2018, Faulkner returned to the stage, with performances at the Heart of Hawick Music Festival in August.

Discography

Albums

Live Albums

Singles

References

Bibliography
Irwin Stambler, Encyclopedia of Pop, Rock & Soul. 1974. St. Martin's Press, Inc. New York, N.Y.

External links
 
 

1953 births
Living people
Musicians from Edinburgh
Scottish pop guitarists
Scottish male guitarists
Scottish male songwriters
Scottish multi-instrumentalists
Bay City Rollers members