Kevin Patterson (singer)

Kevin Patterson (born 5 March 1960) is a Scottish songwriter and singer best known for his work in Fiction Factory, a new wave band active during the 1980s.

Fiction Factory

Before they started their project Fiction Factory, Kevin Patterson (vocals), Eddie Jordan (keyboards) and Chic Medley (guitar) were playing in a band called The RB's, a new wave ska band based in Perth, Scotland. After they left that band, they wanted to keep writing songs but were fed up with live performances (the RB's were one of the most prolific live performers in Scotland at that time). With no name for this project, the first song Patterson and Jordan wrote for it in 1982 was "(Feels Like) Heaven" - the eventual 1984 UK top 10 hit - written in the space of roughly half a day.

From a list of names that Medley had drawn up, Fiction Factory was chosen: firstly, because of the perceived falseness of the music scene and its reliance on pretty faces the project was originally going to be fronted by nice-looking people who had nothing to do with the songwriting or performance of the music; secondly, the hope was that they would write music for themselves, other artists and maybe even films. They were contacted by CBS Records and, after protracted procrastination by the label over a period of two years, got a contract with them.

It should be mentioned that this was not before Patterson, Jordan and Medley were forced to create yet another live band with Graham McGregor (bass) and Mike Ogletree (drums and percussion) - a former drummer of the band Simple Minds - to prove to CBS that they were able to play live.^[1]

Later years

After a few years, the band broke up in 1987,^[2] and Kevin Patterson started to work for the University of Dundee.^[3] He is now married with wife Jacqueline and has two children (Daniel and Marci).

In 2011, Fiction Factory reformed to perform at the 2011 Rewind Festival.

Discography

See: Fiction Factory#Discography

References