Willie Gardner was a Scottish

Scottish people

The Scottish people , or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, incorporating neighbouring Britons to the south as well as invading Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse.In modern use,...

 musician

Musician

A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....

, who formed part of various pop

Pop music

Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

 and rock

Rock music

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

 bands in the 1970s and 1980s, playing guitar. He was a cousin of the glam rock icon Alex Harvey

Alex Harvey (musician)

Alex Harvey was a Scottish rock musician. With The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, he built a reputation as an exciting live performer during the 1970s glam rock era.-Biography:...

.

His earliest known band was The Hot Valves, formed in 1976. The band was influenced by Bill Nelson

Bill Nelson (musician)

Bill Nelson is an English guitarist, songwriter, producer, painter and experimental musician...

 and Mick Ronson

Mick Ronson

Michael "Mick" Ronson was an English guitarist, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, arranger and producer. He is best known for his work with David Bowie, as one of The Spiders from Mars...

, and their name was taken from a Be-Bop Deluxe EP. They were Gardner on guitars and lead vocals, Coling King on drums, and Danny Mitchell on keyboards (the latter two later of Modern Man and Messengers), and split up in 1977.

In 1977, he joined a third band named Zones

Zones (band)

Zones was a British punk and power pop band founded in 1977, after the end of PVC2 and the Midge Ure's membership demise. PVC2 was conformed by Ure on guitar, Russell Webb on bass, Billy McIsaac on keyboards and Kenny Hyslop on drums...

, composed of drummer Kenny Hyslop

Kenny hyslop

Kenny Hyslop is a Scottish drummer who played with different projects and bands who were varied in different styles, such as glam rock, 1970s teenybop, soft rock, punk, new wave, new romantic, blues and modern electronica.-Biography:Hyslop attended Hermitage School.He joined the band Salvation...

, keyboardist Billy McIsaac

Billy McIsaac

Billy McIsaac is a musician, who played mainly keyboards since his early days with different pop bands, and still does, with his current ceremony-band The Billy McIsaac Band....

 and bassist Russell Webb

Russell Webb

Russell Irving Webb is a retired water polo player from the United States. He played in two consecutive Summer Olympics for his native country, starting in 1968. He won a bronze medal with the Men's National Team at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany.He is now a practicing oral...

, who previously were part of PVC2, along with Midge Ure

Midge Ure

James "Midge" Ure, OBE is a Scottish guitarist, singer, keyboard player, and songwriter...

, who quit and moved to London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 to form The Rich Kids

The Rich Kids

Rich Kids were a short-lived, seminal new wave band from London, founded in 1977 by Glen Matlock following his departure from The Sex Pistols. The band also included future Ultravox member Midge Ure, and Rusty Egan, who later went to found Visage.-Career:...

 after the demise of the teenybop band Slik

Slik

Slik were a Scottish pop group of the mid 1970s, most notable for their UK no.1 hit "Forever and Ever" in 1976. Beginning with glam rock and changing their style to soft rock/bubblegum...

. They released singles including "Stuck with You", "Sign of the Times", "Looking to the Future" and "Mourning Star", and an album called Under Influence

Under Influence

Under Influence was the only album of New Wave band Zones, released by Arista Records in mid-1979. The album contained multi-genred songs, being very far from the early punkier stuff, like the case of 7" single "Stuck with You"...

(1979), which was unsuccessful, before splitting up.

After Zones, Gardner dedicated himself to a brief solo career, releasing two singles in 1982: "Golden Youth" and "Imation". Then he joined a fledgling eurodisco band, Endgames

Endgames (band)

Endgames are a Scottish New Wave band, who had some success in the 1980s with singles such as "Waiting For Another Chance" and "Love Cares".-Biography:...

, with whom released two hits, "First Last for Everything" and "Waiting for Another Chance". The band split up around 1985, and Gardner is now in the teaching profession.

Discography

For his releases with Zones, see: Discography of Zones

For his releases with Endgames, see: Discography of Endgames