Music has always been hugely important to Vettriano, with many of his paintings being inspired by or named after the songs he loves. When he found out that Scottish indy band, Saint Judes’ Infirmary, had written a song entitled ‘Goodbye Jack Vettriano’ he was flattered by the reference and then relieved that he loved the song. He was approached by the band and agreed to go along to assist with the filming of a video for the song, commissioned for BBC Scotland’s, Music Show.
‘Goodbye Jack Vettriano’ featured on the band’s debut album, Happy Healthy Lucky Month and you can listen to this and other tracks from the album on our Press & Media page.
Vettriano was inspired by the lyrics in the song to produce a painting, ‘Marked Heart, featured far left here, which the band went on to use for the cover of their second album, ‘This Has Been the Death of Us’, which was released in 2009. Clicke HERE to read an article about the lyrics that inspired by the painting.
The collaboration on the new album evolved further when the band invited Vettriano and the writer and fellow Fifer, Ian Rankin, to record spoken words to be included in some of the new tracks. Click HERE to listen to the song, ‘Tacoma Radar’; lyrics by Ian Rankin and spoken by Jack Vettriano.
St Judes performed a gig at the National Scottish Portrait Gallery in 2009, to launch their second album ‘This Has Been The Death of Us’; see a video of their performance below.