Scottish singer/songwriter Callum Beattie rekindles the blue-collar, working-class pop torch lit by strummers like Del Amitri and gives it a contemporary sheen.

Born in Edinburgh and raised in an impoverished household alongside two siblings by his single-parent father, he grew up listening to classic albums by the likes of Rod Stewart, Elton John, Bruce Springsteen, Fleetwood Mac, and the Who, and from a young age became fixated on the idea of being a songwriter. At 14, he pestered his dad to buy him a guitar, and began writing. Leaving school with no qualifications except a positive outlook and solid work ethic, he gradually built a local following through gigging in pubs. He used the hi-vis jacket from his job pushing supermarket trolleys to pretend to be security and get backstage at festivals, where he would hand out demos; one year at T in the Park, he invaded the stage during R.E.M.'s set in front of 70,000 people, live on TV.

Beattie developed an emotional, heart-on-sleeve style of songwriting drawing directly from his own life experiences, which connected directly with his fans. He released his first single, "We Are Stars," in 2017; stints living in London and Berlin followed, providing material for more singles. His popularity surged when "Boris Brexit Song," his quickly knocked-up ditty lambasting the U.K.'s governing Conservative party, went viral in 2019; that year, he made his debut at the Glastonbury Festival. Beattie's debut album, People like Us, recorded with Ken Nelson, was released on Universal subsidiary 3 Beat Records in 2020, topping the Scottish album chart. ~ John D. Buchanan, Rovi