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Bon Scott

Bon Scott is widely acknowledged as one of the wild men of rock music but it is less well-known that the leather-clad lead singer of Australia's most famous hard rock band was born in the quiet Angus town of Kirriemuir.

Ronald Belford Scott was born on July 9, 1946. His parents, Chick and Isa Scott, lived in a house in The Roods, the street that starts in the town centre and continues up a very steep hill until it reaches the adjoining village of Northmuir. Chick worked in his family's bakery in Bank Street, alongside his father and his brother, and spent most Saturday evenings in Kirrie Square as he was a drummer in Kirriemuir Pipe Band.

Ronald loved the sound of the drums and, from a very early, he loved to hammer out rhythms on his mum's bread board and biscuit tins. And when the Pipe Band was playing in the square, Ronald was often spotted marching alongside his dad, hitting an imaginary drum.

But even by the time he was at primary school, Ronald had a wild streak which was becoming noticeable and, according to those who remember those days, he was frequently described as 'a loveable little rascal'.

Then, when Ronald was six years old, and his younger brother was three years old, Chick and Isa decided to take advantage of the Australian Government's Assisted Passage scheme, and emigrated to a new life Down Under.

Ronald quickly settled in at school in Melbourne, where he acquired a new name - Bon (as in Bonnie Scotland) Scott. He also acquired a new hobby - playing the bagpipes - and, when the family moved to Fremantle in Western Australia he started learning to play the drums properly, joining Fremantle Scots Pipe Band. However, these activities were not enough to keep Bonnie out of trouble and at 15, he dropped out of school. By the age of 16, he was in a juvenile detention centre, although, on his release, he vowed he would never put his parents through the shame of their son being in jail again.

True to his word, Bon Scott, as he was now known, put all his energies into music, playing drums and singing with several Australian bands. Then, in 1974, Bon met two other Scottish ex-pats who were making their names in the Australian rock world - Angus and Malcolm Young of up and coming rock band, ACDC. Almost immediately, Angus and Malcolm spotted Bon's potential as their new lead singer.

Fame and fortune followed - as did all the excesses for which rock stars are so well known. On February, 19, 1980, at the age of 33, Bon Scott fell asleep in a reclining car seat after a hard night's drinking. In the morning, it was discovered that Bon had suffered the same fate as other famous victims of rock lifestyle excesses; he had asphyxiated, and died.

Although Bon Scott never returned to the town of his birth, the people of Kirriemuir have certainly not forgotten him. Every year, thousands of ACDC fans make the pilgrimage to Kirriemuir and the square where their idol first played the drums in public. Several Bon Scott remembrance festivals have taken place in Kirriemuir over the years and, tucked away in Cumberland Square, there's a granite stone commemorating Kirriemuir's most famous rock singer.