Peter Thomson

Peter Thomson, lead vocalist and songwriter of 1980's Glasgow synth-band Secession. The long lost recordings of the Peter have been unearthed and reveal a tortured musician at the height of his game. The Scottish entrepreneur Hamish Brown managed Secession. The band found a cult following during their active years, and they were originally signed to Beggars Banquet for whom they released the 2 singles in 1984, "Fire Island," and "Touch." The single "Touch," became a dancefloor favorite in countries such as Germany and the United States, and was covered by Epic Records artist NoHo, who enjoyed even greater success with the song, taking it into the Billboard chart. Secession then went on to sign to Siren Records, then a subsidiary of Virgin. From 1986-87, they released 5 singles; "Michael," "Promise," "Radioland," "Sneakyville" and "The Magician" whilst also delivering their sole album "A Dark Enchantment." Though the single Michael had been picked up and A-listed by Radio 1 in the UK, a difference of opinion between the band and Siren over the mixes resulted in Siren being accused by Peter Thomson of failing to manufacture enough copies of the single to satisfy demand, having narrowly missed out on the UK Top 40, Secession disbanded even before the album "A Dark Enchantment," was released. Peter Thomson had carried on writing and recorded some new songs on his home studio set-up, using an Emulator II+ HD and Yamaha DX7 keyboards, a Roland 909 drum machine and sequencer, as well as Fender and Rickenbacker guitars, and a Fostex 4 Track Analog Cassette Recorder. He gave Hamish Brown copies of those final songs on cassette, and Hamish took them to California. Peter, who battled alcohol addiction, and what has since been identified as an undiagnosed mental illness, took his own life on March 28th, 2001. The cassettes remained un-played until late 2017 after Peter Thomson’s widow, Margaret Thomson, discussed with Hamish ways of honoring Peter’s memory. The final songs that Peter wrote are "2001 (I’m Afraid Of Getting Old)," "2001 (Instrumental)," "Disco Vampire," "Finest Hour," "Make You Cry" and "Tomorrow Belongs To Me." The songs reveal someone using his creative output to cry for help, while his enigmatic style and tortured lyrics also revealed a pop sensibility.