Dragoon Guards hit #17 on UK Pop Charts with a bullet

The Pipes & Drums of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards have found themselves sandwiched between the unlikely combination of Celine Dion and Michael Buble at number 17 on the UK Pop Music Charts after the debut of the band’s CD, Spirit of the Glen on the Universal label, with which it signed a £1 million contract in October 2007.

The CD comes almost 30 years to the day of Paul McCartney and Wings’ reaching the coveted number one spot on the UK pop charts with “Mull of Kintyre,” a track also featured on the Dragoon Guards’ project.

When Brown received the CD he commented, “I am delighted to meet Lance Corporal Clements and be presented with a copy of the CD. Pipers have always played an inspirational role in the British Armed forces. I applaud the fact that the regiment’s proceeds from the sales of the pipes and drums of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards CD will all go to military charities. Using their talents to raise funds for service charities is in the best traditions of our armed forces.”

“We’re overwhelmed with our success,” Derek Potter, Pipe-Major of the band said. “[We’re] very happy to be able to deliver a copy of our record to Gordon Brown. As a fellow Scot, we hope he enjoys the CD we’ve recorded, were very proud of it.”

The only pipe band ever to reach number one on the UK charts was the same Royal Scots Dragoon Guards with its rendition of “Amazing Grace” in 1972. The Campbeltown Pipe Band accompanied McCartney on “Mull of Kintyre” which held the number one spot for nine weeks, a record in that country until it was eclipsed by “Do They Know It’s Christmas” in 1984.