Rab Noakes born 13 May 1947

Robert Ogilvie Noakes (13 May 1947 – 11 November 2022) better known as Rab Noakes, was a Scottish singer-songwriter. He was at the forefront of Scottish folk music for over 50 years and recorded over 19 studio albums. He toured folk clubs and often performed at the Glasgow music festival Celtic Connections. 

Noakes was born in St Andrews, Fife, the son of Robert Noakes, a postal worker, and Elsie (nee Ogilvie), a local government officer and amateur singer. The family moved to Cupar, where Rab attended Castle Hill primary and then Bell Baxter high school, where he first met Davie Craig and Artie Trezise, friends with whom he would go on to make music. Leaving school at 16 he joined the civil service, working as a pensions and national insurance clerk, first in Alloa, then Glasgow and London. But he was also making a name busking and playing the folk club circuit. He made his first professional appearance in Glasgow in 1967 and in 1969 spent “nine weeks, seven days a week, four hours a night” playing in a hotel in Denmark with Craig. 

Noakes released his first album, Do You See The Lights, in 1970, with a line-up that included McKidd on electric guitar and the Scottish jazz bassist[ambiguous] Ronnie Rae. This recording included the songs "Too Old to Die", "Together Forever" and "Somebody Counts on Me". Noakes was a founding member in 1971 of the folk rock band Stealers Wheel, along with Gerry Rafferty and Joe Egan. He sang backing vocals and played on Rafferty's first solo album, Can I Have My Money Back, most notably on "Mary Skeffington", a song about Rafferty's mother. After these sessions, he became an early member of Stealers Wheel, but left them before the release of the band's first album. 

                                   

Noakes recorded and performed with Lindisfarne, whom he supported on a national tour in 1972, and recorded his songs "Turn a Deaf Ear" on their first album, Nicely Out of Tune, and "Together Forever" on their second, Fog on the Tyne. Barbara Dickson recorded "Turn a Deaf Ear" on her album Do Right Woman, on which Noakes performed. In May 1972, the British music magazine NME reported that Noakes was to appear at the Great Western Express Lincoln Festival on 26 May that year. One of Noakes's best-known recordings, "Branch", was released as a single in summer 1974 from his album Red Pump Special, which was recorded in Nashville, Tennessee, and produced by Elliot Mazer. It had considerable airplay on BBC Radio 1, but without making the UK Singles Chart. 

The album Restless (1978) was produced by Terry Melcher at Starling Sounds, based at Tittenhurst Park in Ascot, the former home of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, then owned by Ringo Starr. The albums, Rab Noakes (1980) and Under the Rain (1984) followed, but it was not until 1994 that Standing Up appeared. Noakes subsequently toured with the Varaflames, containing Pick Withers, Rod Clements and the harmonicist, Fraser Speirs. 

Once known as a heavy drinker, Rab gave up alcohol in 1982. With his pop career apparently stalled, he moved to the BBC, where he made use of his vast musical knowledge and love of radio, working in Manchester and then Glasgow, as a senior music producer for music programmes on BBC Radio Scotland. He left in 1995 to create the production company Neon. In November 2007, his album Unlimited Mileage, again with the Varaflames, was released. In 2012, CDs of Standing Up Again' '(made in 2009) and Just in Case (recorded in 2007) were made available, having only been available to download until then. 

In 2015, he released the album I'm Walking Here. It was his 19th solo album and many of the songs tell the story of his working life as a songwriter and performer. It is a double album containing 26 songs. The first set consists of new compositions that show his gift for melody and love of Americana, and includes "Out of Your Sight", influenced by Buddy Holly, a tribute to a 1920s minstrel singer, and a poignant lament for Rafferty. The second album is dominated by "interpretations" (he hated the word "covers") of songs from early Cliff Richard to Garbage and Beck, along with the skiffle standard "Freight Train", on which he was joined by Jimmie MacGregor, and a finely sung treatment of the traditional "The Two Sisters". 

In 1988, he met Stephanie Pordage and they married in 1998. She became his muse, manager and collaborator. They both left the BBC to set up their own production company, Neon, in 1995. Pordage died from the effects of Parkinson's disease in 2021. Noakes was diagnosed with tonsil cancer in 2015, but treatment was effective and he was back recording The Treatment Tapes in 2016. He also toured in 2017, at the Leith folk club and with a full band at Celtic Connections. In 2022, he continued to tour and work in collaboration with other singers. 

Noakes died on 11 November 2022, suddenly, at the age of 75, in hospital in Glasgow.

(Edited from Wikipedia & The Guardian)