A MUSICIAN from Gourock who found stardom in the USA has taken a walk down memory lane in a new book taking him back to his roots.

Henry Gorman, who is now based in London, was a regular at the old Davy Jones Locker venue in his home town, where his band built up a huge following.

From there the guitarist went on an exciting journey, finding fame behind the Iron Curtain in Bulgaria before turning his talents to work with some of the best producers and stars in the business.

In a new book about a Paisley venue - The Bungalow: Stories from The Venue and Those Who Played There - he tells all about his grounding with the The Henry Gorman Band.

Speaking to the new book's author, Henry, who grew up listening to his musician dad Jimmy 'Tex Gorman, a regular with Chic Murray and George Chisholm, said: “There was a lot of Hank Williams and Django Reinhardt 78s played on the old gramophone at home.

"When I was around 11 or 12 my mother bought me a second hand acoustic guitar for fifteen bob.

"It was a monstrous thing - the strings were so high off the fretboard they cut into your fingers.

"We couldn’t afford lessons but my friend Ronnie Garrity, my soon to be long-time collaborator, had private lessons once a week and would come by the house to show me what he had learned.

"I am naturally left-handed but didn’t really have any choice but to learn right-handed.”

As a teenager Henry upgraded to an electric guitar purchased out of his mother’s catalogue for £33 on hire purchase.

He added: “It was partly paid for from my two paper rounds.

"I still have that guitar to this day."

The Henry Gorman Band enjoyed early success on the gig circuit and was a huge hit at Davy Jones Locker during the 80s.

Soon they were playing the college and university circuit before ending up appearing on state-owned TV in Bulgaria.

In the end their album was bootlegged by the Bulgarians and became the country's second-best selling record, with only The Rolling Stones selling more.

Henry said: “It was all very strange, completely surreal.

"Of course, we never saw a penny!”

Soon the musician moved Stateside to join his twin brother Wullie in New York, producing music for Holywood and American TV networks.

While working in Manhattan for David Horowitz Music Associates, one of the foremost jingle houses, he co-wrote and produced songs with renowned songwriters such as Scott English (Westlife, Barry Manilow); Kenny Young (The Drifters); Lisa Greene (Britney Spears, Kylie Minogue); Ray St John (Sade) and Simon Tauber (Atomic Kitten).

But it has been the writing and production side of incidental music for television and film that have eared Henry the most commercial success.

His track ‘Devil's Victory’ was placed on a TV promo for the series 6 finale of HBO's flagship show Game of Thrones.

Now based back in the UK, Henry co-wrote the theme music for ITV’s flagship breakfast TV show Good Morning Britain plus the theme for the relaunch of the channel's Lorraine show.

Henry added: "It’s a far cry from belting out The Fleetwood Mac covers in Davy Jones Locker in Gourock, where we had a residency all those years ago.

"But, I couldn’t have got a better start for the career I’ve followed.”

The new book written by former journalist Loudon Temple, who booked all of the bands to play The Bungalow in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, singles out The Henry Gorman Band as one of the most popular groups of the period.

The Bungalow is available from the www.beenandgoneanddoneit.com, and costs £15 plus postage and packaging, with £5 from every copy going to help the homeless.