The founder member of the Scottish band ‘Belle and Sebastian’ has spoken about the key role a Church of Scotland congregation played in its early development.

Stuart Murdoch, the band’s lead singer, said the encouragement and support provided to him by members of Hyndland Parish Church in Glasgow in the early 1990s was pivotal and the catalyst for success.

Belle and Sebastian were formed in 1994 and since then have recorded 12 studio albums.  They’re currently preparing for a worldwide tour to mark the 30th anniversary of their first two albums, ‘Tigermilk' and ‘If You're Feeling Sinister'.

Murdoch credits his success to the support shown to him early on by Very Rev John Christie, who allowed him to live in a flat above the church hall rent free for more than five years in exchange for caretaker duties in 1991. Murdoch was unemployed and lacking direction at the time and this enabled the now internationally acclaimed band to use the space to regularly practice and rehearse when it was not in use by community groups. They later recorded several albums there.

Murdoch joined the church choir and was given tips on how to strengthen his voice. He’s now a committed Christian who serves the same church to this day as an elder and worship leader.

He appeared at the Edinburgh Book Festival recently to promote his new book, ‘Nobody's Empire', and was re-united with Rev Christie, who served as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland from 2010-2011.

The minister led Hyndland Parish Church for 14 years and is named in the book's acknowledgements along with hall convener Ann Henderson in recognition of the part they played in steering the direction of the musician's life.

Murdoch recalled how he was suffering with myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) at the time, a condition that led to him returning to his Christian faith while unemployed and searching for meaning in his life. He took up the invitation to live in the flat above the church hall but did not really want to get involved with the daily life of the congregation because of his health. However he added:

"I was pleasantly surprised because I had not been in church since I was a kid and it was much more open, friendlier and easier to digest than my memory of it.

"John Christie was a young man to me at the time and his personality seemed to be kind and I enjoyed the service.

"He came up to me afterwards and said hello and invited me back the next week and after a few weeks of attending I mentioned to him that I was interested in music.

"He called John Langdon over and said, ‘here is a chap who is interested in music, can you put him in the choir?

"I was at the University of Glasgow doing music part-time but I was still struggling to keep up with it energy wise, and I initially thought ‘I don't want to be in the choir'.

"But within the next week there I was standing up at the sharp end with a red gown on with Maggie and her husband Ian and the rest of the double quartet."

He attended the church for the next four years, helping out as a caretaker and sweeping up in the evenings:

"I wasn't a very good jannie but I tried my best and for many folk I was always just the guy upstairs…

"The old ladies used to always try to go up to my flat and have a look around.

"They would chap the door and say, ‘here are some left over sandwiches and cakes from this morning' which were always gratefully received but I would always stand there and think to myself ‘nope, you are not coming in'.

"I had to draw the line because my flat was messy and it was full of music equipment and I don't think anybody from the church would have been very impressed with the way I was keeping it."

It was around this time in 1995 that Mr Murdoch and his friend Stuart David recruited some local musicians and they formed ‘Belle and Sebastian', named after a short story about a boy and his dog.

The 58 year old said :"The life of the band and my life at the church went together hand-in-hand, it was symbiosis…

"I would show the band the new songs that I had written at the piano in the big hall because as soon as people using it left, I would go down there to use it and we would practice for the recording of the second LP.

"We were so comfortable in the church hall because we enjoyed the acoustics and that led to us later recording in the hall itself.

"When the band started we recorded the first two albums in a professional studio in Glasgow but then for the next recordings, which became our first three EPs, we brought equipment into the hall because we wanted to get more of a live feel."

Mr Murdoch, who is married with two children, said his Christian faith is extremely important to him and he is very active at his church when time allows.

Mr Christie said he was pleased to have helped the musician in his younger days and to be acknowledged in the book:

"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."

Today, the church is called Broomhill Hyndland Parish Church following a merger in 2017 and Mr Murdoch is still a member of the choir.