Stuart Murdoch, frontman of the internationally acclaimed indie band Belle and Sebastian, has credited a Church of Scotland congregation with playing a decisive role in his musical journey.
Murdoch revealed that the support he received from Hyndland Parish Church in Glasgow during the early 1990s provided the stability and encouragement that eventually helped launch the band onto the world stage.
At the time, Murdoch was unemployed, recovering from illness, and uncertain about the future.
Guided by the Very Rev John Christie at that time, the church community offered him rent-free accommodation in an upstairs flat over the church hall in return for looking after the premises.
For more than five years, the space became not only his home but also a rehearsal ground where Belle and Sebastian’s earliest songs took shape.
Several of the band’s early records were written – and later even recorded – within the hall’s walls.
Murdoch first walked into Hyndland Parish Church in 1991, aged 22, after a difficult period of suffering from myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME).
He shared: "Once I was out of the hospital, I had a sort of revelation while sitting at the piano in my folks' house and felt that God was trying to get my attention.
"That is when my faith was reawakened and I moved back to Glasgow in 1991 with a friend Michael and we managed to get a flat in Hyndland.
"We were not well enough to work and were just trying to survive in Glasgow.
"One day he said to me that I was always singing old hymns and ‘you should go to church'.
"I replied ‘I'm not going to church' as at that time I had no interest because I felt my faith was a private thing and it was fragile.
"But the next morning, I got up and I thought ‘I wonder where the nearest church is?'
"So, I threw my trousers on over my pyjamas and I dashed out and walked up to this church.”
A chance encounter with Christie and the warm welcome from the congregation soon drew him into church life.
Joining the choir introduced him to mentors such as Dr Maggie Stockwell, a soprano who coached him to strengthen his voice, and organist John Langdon, a renowned musician who encouraged his musical ambitions.
He recalled: "She [Dr Maggie] really encouraged me to project my voice and stood me in good stead because in the early days of the band we are very quiet, we didn't play many concerts and we had trouble making ourselves heard.
"But my voice got stronger and I put a lot of it down to singing tenor in the Hyndland choir.”
He continued: "The great thing about John and the church generally is they have always been very supportive of ‘Belle and Sebastian'.
"They had no qualms and they could have booted us out of the church hall because we were not singing the Lord's music, it was rock ‘n' roll and the band has always addressed themes that were quite broad.
"But John was always very interested in the band, right from the outset and very encouraging.
"I think they were just happy that I'd got something that was quite solid because for a good few years I was just the guy that showed up at the church, my health was poor, I was raggedly dressed, I didn't have a job and didn't really have anything going on.
"The band was always around and there were a couple of occasions when we performed in the church and church hall."
By 1995, Murdoch had formed Belle and Sebastian with bassist Stuart David and other local musicians.
The church hall became their creative workshop, offering both rehearsal space and, eventually, a recording venue.
Albums like If You’re Feeling Sinister (1996) and later EPs were rehearsed and partially recorded there, complete with the occasional interruptions of birdsong or even bagpipes drifting in from nearby flats.
“The life of the band and my life at the church went together hand-in-hand,” Murdoch stated. “It was symbiosis.”
Three decades later, aged 58, married and a father of two, Murdoch is still a committed member of the church, serving as an elder and worship leader at Broomhill Hyndland Parish Church, following a 2017 merger - even as Belle and Sebastian prepare for a major anniversary tour spanning Europe and North America.
His Christian faith, he says, has been central both to his personal resilience and to his creativity.
Earlier this summer, Murdoch reunited with Rev Christie at the Edinburgh Book Festival while promoting his semi-autobiographical novel Nobody’s Empire.
In its acknowledgements, he thanks Christie and Ann Henderson, the church hall convener, for guiding him at a pivotal moment in his life.
Rev Christie, who presided as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland during 2010-2011, said he was delighted to see Murdoch’s success and to have played a small part in his story.
He remarked: "My wife and I were invited to the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Presbyterian Church there [Taiwan] and afterwards we enjoyed hospitality in a restaurant in the company of a few people from the congregation including the minister and his wife.
"I told them I was the minister in Hyndland at one time and immediately the minister's wife piped up and said ‘Hyndland, Belle and Sebastian'.
"They knew all about the church hall and it transpired that their daughter had gone to a Belle and Sebastian concert in Seoul.
"I am very pleased to see that Stuart maintains his link with the Church of Scotland and his faith continues to play an important role in his life.
“It’s wonderful that the church hall, which was simply meant to serve the local community, became the place where something so enduring and influential began,” he said.
