JIM PRIME (DEACON BLUE) - 1960 - 2025 - A TRIBUTE
19/06/2025
My heart literally sank and broke when I caught Deacon Blue’s keyboard player Jim Prime’s photograph on social media this afternoon. Knowing he had been very ill I knew that this wasn’t good news.
I was shocked and also shocked at how shocked I was. Oh there are a lot of musicians of which we say that they are like best friends though of course we have never met. Human beings who play musically the soundtrack of our lives, being companions for years, decades even, playing songs of joy or songs of lament when you need them.
For joy I’d reach for Dignity, Believers, City Of Love, Real Gone Kid and a plethora… Lately, The Great Western Road has been just right for the time of adventure that I am on and People Come First my rallying cry in a dark depressing world. Take Me To The Place or Riches have always been my reach for in times of grief.
Yet, Jim was not a distant musical companion. I’d had the good pleasure after many of Deacon Blue’s Belfast gigs, through their generosity, to have a beverage back stage before or after gigs. Jim was so engaging. He always made me feel that he was keen for a chat and his gentle kindness was wonderful trait in a rock star. I’d even got to talk theology and music with him as a result of his work at the University of the West Of Scotland.
I first heard about James Prime as an early member of Altered Images with Gregory’s Girl star Clare Grogan but far more crucially as a player on John Martyn’s Well Kept Secret and Sapphire records. When I first brought Raintown home and checked out the band my first question was if that was the same Jim Prime. It was.
It was obviously as member of Deacon Blue that he becomes important to me. From the falling rain sounds on the opening title track of that first record Raintown, to the wind and waves of Dignity right up through the banging introduction to Believers to the up to date elegance of The Great Western Road, Jim was to Deacon Blue what Roy Bittan is to the E Street Band.
Jim Prime cannot be highlighted in isolated moments. He is as integral to the sound and riven into the DNA of Deacon Blue as much as Ricky Ross’s voice and Lorraine McIntosh’s harmonies.
It is those guys in the band who are closest to Jim that I think about tonight, and they are close. If this is how I feel, how must they feel. So love and prayers to the band and Jim’s family…
… and thank you "Rev Dr" James Miller Prime for all this music that touches my head and heart and soul… and for your kindness. I am so grateful. I will carry it all with me.