Tam Paton

Thomas Dougal "Tam" Paton (5 August 1938 – 8 April 2009), was the manager and primary spokesman during the 1970s of the Scottish band the Bay City Rollers.

Born in Prestonpans, Scotland, he was the son of a potato merchant. Paton drove a truck to initially aid the group financially. He went on to guide the band through their peak during the 1970s, nurturing the band's image to be that of the "boys next door". He was responsible for starting a myth that the band members preferred drinking milk to alcohol, in order to cultivate this clean, innocent image.

In 1979, Paton was fired as manager, and went on to develop a multi-million pound real estate business based in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Paton was openly gay.^[1]

In 1982, Paton was convicted of gross indecency with teenage boys, serving one year of a three-year prison sentence.^[2]

In later years he suffered poor health including two heart attacks and a stroke. He was arrested on child sexual abuse charges in January 2003, but was later cleared of all allegations.^[3] In April 2004, Paton was convicted of supplying cannabis and fined £200,000.^[4] In 2007, he was accused but cleared of raping the band's guitarist, Pat McGlynn, in a hotel room in 1977. ^[5]

Paton died of a suspected heart attack aged 70 at his Edinburgh home on 8 April 2009.^[6]

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