ONE FOR THE ROAD

The former Orange Juice frontman tells us why he's ready to stop and his famous friends say how he inspired them

- BY JOHN DINGWALL

SCOTTISH pop legend Edwyn Collins has announced he will quit touring after final live shows later this year.

Collins, who found fame in 1980 with the Glasgow group Orange Juice, revealed he decided a run of dates in September and October will be his last as "age is catching up" with him.

The 65-year-old said: "I'd be a very old man by the time the next one rolled around.

I know I don't tour much but this is my last.

Touring in your 70s, it's not for me.

"But my lovely band and crew, we'll make this one special." Collins enjoyed a string of independent hits with Orange Juice in the 80s, including Blue Boy, Rip It Up and Poor Old Soul.

Signed to Glasgow independent label Postcard Records of Scotland, run by the mercurial music label honcho Alan Horne, Orange Juice's labelmates included Edinburgh's Josef K, East Kilbride's Aztec Camera and The Go-Betweens from Australia.

The four-piece included David McClymont, Steven Daly and James Kirk and were credited with encouraging a wave of successful pop acts from Glasgow and the west of Scotland.

Del Amitri singer Justin Currie was among those who paid tribute. He told the Record: "Collins and Kirk's Orange Juice came from nowhere and swept my generation off our feet.