Scottish artist who painted Nicola Sturgeon portrait to reform 1980s rock band that supported Del Amitri

Now Gerard M Burns, has revealed his band, Valerie and the Week of Wonders, who supported Del Amitri and Simple Minds in the 1980s, is back together and in the studio with new recordings on the way.

Mr Burns, 63, who has some of his work exhibited in the permanent collection at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, said the band was re-recording an original album and also making a documentary about their journey.

In their heyday, the band, which also supported Simple Minds, included Greg Kane, who later became part of Hue and Cry and brothers Brian and Ewan Mcfie.

Speaking on The Human First podcast to Adrian Murphy, chief executive of Murphy Wealth, Mr Burns said: “It’s a fairytale. I played in a great band in the ‘80s called Valerie and the Week of Wonders. We signed a record deal and [then] it came apart.

“We are the band who never were. There was almost nothing existed, no photographs, no recordings. [It was] quite astonishing.”

Forty years later, during the pandemic, Mr Burns decided to try to find the original music he had written for the band.

“I decided I would try and get hold of all the material,” he said. “We were operating at a fairly good level, playing with bands like Del Amitri and Simple Minds, it was a good scene.

“But then I contacted the guys and it has just blossomed again.”

The band is now recording a new version of the songs written in the 1980s and is working on a documentary.

“The band are back together,” said Mr Burns. “The weakest link, I knew, would be my voice, in that the 23-year-old who wrote these songs, that voice is not the voice I have now. So I brought in two young female vocalists, one of whom is a fiddle player.

“The material is good songs, which have stood the test of time. They are as fresh now, with the new treatment of them, as they were in the 1980s. It’s sounding absolutely fantastic.”

He added: “I often have people saying to me ‘you used to be a musician?’. I didn’t used to be a musician, I am a musician. It changes the context again.

“To be able to stand again and get a reaction from an audience, it’s an absolutely fantastic feeling and I’m loving it.”

Mr Burns started his career in art as a teacher at Glasgow’s St Aloysius’ College.

He revealed on the podcast how the demands of teaching took a heavy toll, leading to a nervous breakdown - and eventually to him pursuing art full time.

Mr Burns explained how he felt disillusioned after graduating from Glasgow School of Art in 1983, struggling to find a clear path forward.

He said: “The job broke me. I loved teaching, but it was a tough job.”

As well as politicians, Mr Burns has painted stars including Hollywood actor Brian Cox and comedian Elaine C Smith. He said his experience painting rugby great Mr Weir, who died of motor neurone disease two years ago, had left a “deep mark” on him.

“It was a remarkable experience,” he said. “In Doddie’s portrait, his instinct was to act the clown, to be the goof, which he always did to cover up the fact he was in pain.

“And I said to him that’s wrong, it can’t be a smiley painting – and the painting I made shows some of that pain. That’s why it’s so powerful.”