The Olive Press 5th October 2024
‘One more bite at the cherry’: The incredible tale of the Scottish drug smuggler who found stardom
‘One more bite at the cherry’: The incredible tale of the Scottish drug smuggler who found stardom in Spain with a prison band – and then lost it all
And for one former narco-trafficker jailbird turned rocker, it comes 30 years after he nearly hit the big time with a band he formed while in a Spanish prison.
Former Costa del Sol resident Allan McCarthy, 61, once found minor fame as the front man for Berlin 90 (named after the wall which had just fallen), even playing live on national television from jail.
While performing shows for Spanish television and radio, the gregarious Scotsman penned the song Runaway from his cell
Olive Press 2024 10 05th Saturday
‘One more bite at the cherry’: The incredible tale of the Scottish drug smuggler who found stardom in Spain with a prison band – and then lost it all
THEY say everyone deserves a second chance.
“Runaway”The musical talent landed himself in Sangonera prison in his mid-20s after a car he was riding in was busted with a consignment of hashish near Murcia in 1988.
“Carabanchel was like the bogeyman for these guys,” McCarthy told this newspaper. “It was like Spain’s Alcatraz.”
As well as rekindling the flames of his musical career, McCarthy is also set to write a book on his journey as a reformed con.
He also plans to return to Sangonera, in Murcia, to perform one last time in the jail where he made his name.
The Olive Press Distribution & Readership