A SINGER has dedicated his latest album to the Barrhead street he grew up in.

Jimmy Green, 67, released 'Echoes of Balgray' last month as a tribute to Balgray Crescent where he lived until the age of 21.

It was at 2 Balgray Crescent where Jimmy made his fondest memories.

The former car repairman feels the time is right to share some of his favourite childhood stories, as well as a few classic hits.

Jimmy, who stays in Newton Mearns, has always retained a fondness for the place where he was raised alongside sisters Nancy, Margaret and Betty.

Explaining the background to his newest musical venture, Jimmy said: "This is my second full studio album.

"On this particular one we never made any hard copies and everything is downloadable.

"So it's a bit more difficult to judge how sales are going. We never did it to be a number one.

"They're my memories of Balgray Crescent. I had a happy childhood, we were just an ordinary working class family.

"Dad worked every day and we just did the same as everybody else.

"We played football on the street and all the other games we used to have in those days.

"Barrhead was a much smaller place, especially in Auchenback. Everybody knew everybody.

"We used to have about three or four venues for football. There was a lot of mixing in those days."

Jimmy would be the first to admit his singing career developed somewhat out of the blue.

Nine years ago he was invited to a private function at Blair Castle in Dalry through his personal business, J. W. Green Coachworks.

Expecting nothing more than a night out and possibly a new contact or two, Jimmy found himself writing his first album 'I Believe' just a week later after a chance encounter with

a singer-songwriter based in London.

Jimmy recalled the evening with pride and said: "I've been singing basically just as a hobby as long as I can remember but the story about the first album is really quite good.

"I was at a corporate function and there was a guy there called Paddy Byrne and Paddy was the entertainment for the evening.

"It all finished up as a bit of a sing-song round the piano with about 20 guests in this corporate do.

"Paddy said: 'You've got a magnificent voice, why don't you come to London and we'll record a few songs'.

"I said: 'Aye, whatever'.

"The following week he emailed me. I worked on songs up here and he worked on the arrangements down in London.

"I went down to London five times to record four songs on each trip.

"With the 'Echoes of Balgray', we finished off the writing and it was recorded in Newton Mearns."

As well as his debut album, Jimmy also worked alongside Paddy, who has written songs for Will Young and Paloma Faith amongst others, on 'Echoes of Balgray'.

He describes the album as one he loved recording and one that tips a hat to some esteemed singers from the local area.

"There are some really good tracks on it and a lot of them were favourite songs," Jimmy said.

"We also tried to make a Barrhead/Paisley connection because my father was a Paisley man.

"We've got Gerry Rafferty and Paolo Nutini songs. There's a few Bruce Springsteen ones because he's one of my favourite performers.

"My own personal style is basically singing popular songs that I like."

To listen to 'Echoes of Balgray' in full, search smarturl.it/cd4rck