IT was an ordinary hotel in an ordinary English town on a fairly average day in 1980. Until, that is, Ozzy Osbourne arrived.
As tour manager of the Black Sabbath frontman's series of gigs, Jake Duncan was responsible for making sure things ticked along, - from organising transport to pampering to stars' whims - but Ozzy blew apart his carefully-planned itinerary. "He'd just come out of a heavy divorce - this was before he was with Sharon," says Jake, relaxing in the lounge of his Edinburgh home. "He wasn't in a very good way.
"We arrived at this hotel in Leicester but it must have been the briefest stay in history, because as soon as we got to the reception desk to book in, Ozzy unzipped and urinated in the foyer. Let's just say we checked back out again soon after."
Sex, drugs, rock 'n' roll and unfortunate toilet incidents are just part of life on the road with some of the world's biggest music legends.
Today, Jake is at home in Balerno surrounded by glittering gold and platinum discs from the likes of George Michael and, most recently, Westlife. It's brief respite after a gruelling tour that has seen him accompany Britain's Got Talent opera sensation Paul Potts across the globe.
"I've been working with Paul since July last year and he's had no more than three weeks at home," says the 56-year-old father of two. "Last year he was selling phones, now we're just back from Australia, where he played the Sydney Opera House.
"In just five months we did the UK, US, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, Australia, Japan and Korea, and we've done ten shows in Denmark. I don't think I've done ten shows there with anyone, yet his is the biggest selling album in Denmark. That's amazing success."
On the road with the rotund opera star might not sound terribly rock 'n' roll, but who could blame Jake from wanting a little less action after 35 years with some of the biggest names in music? Aerosmith, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Bruce Springsteen, George Michael, Westlife and Franz Ferdinand - all appear on Jake's "been there, done them" list of acts that he has worked with.
It all started with Edinburgh's very own superstars, the Bay City Rollers.
"I was in a music store on the Royal Mile, it was 1973 and I was buying some drumsticks when I started chatting with a guy who was working with the Rollers," Jake recalls.
"He was driving to Bournemouth that night alone after his co-driver pulled out.
"I didn't have a driving licence but he said to come along because he needed someone to help keep him awake. I thought, 'sod it, I'll go'."
Jake was 21 and a trainee manager at a city hotel. Nothing prepared him for the madness that would engulf everyone associated with the tartan-clad popsters as Rollermania took off.
"It was largely down to Tam Paton going through teen magazines that used to have girls writing in asking for penfriends," reveals Jake. "He would note down every one and send them a picture of the band to get them interested.
"Eventually the girls went out of control - nothing had prepared me for the way these girls behaved."
The next group he worked was Aerosmith, the wild men of American rock.
Jake laughs as he remembers touring with Steve Tyler and co at the height of their hedonistic days of excess.
"It was 1976-77 and Aerosmith were totally wired pretty much the whole time," he recalls.
"A lot of artists will stick a list on the stage floor to help them remember the song order, but Steve came on stage one night in Birmingham and started off with what was the last song on the sheet.
"He finished, looked at the sheet and was so out of it that he thought that was it for the night so he yelled 'Thank you, goodnight' to the crowd," grins Jake.
"We had to push him back on and remind him he still had 14 songs to do."
Recently Jake saw the band play in Glasgow and approached guitarist Brad Whitford to say hello. "I said, 'Hi, remember me? I was with you guys in 1977'. He just looked at me blankly and said he couldn't remember anything at all from 1977 - and I'm not surprised."
As a lad growing up in Penicuik and then Abbeyhill, the notion that he'd eventually tour the world rubbing shoulders with the cream of the music industry never entered his head. He was too busy dreaming of football - more precisely, Hearts.
When he left Boroughmuir High for a hotel management course at Napier, he had no idea that his life would eventually revolve around hotels but from the other side of the reception desk.
As his reputation grew, Jake became one of the UK's leading tour managers, working with the biggest names in the business, including George Michael.
"I was with George for eight years," remembers Jake, who runs Showtime International from his home. "There'd be five of us in a private jet - George, his sister, his personal assistant, a security guy and me. So I got to know him pretty well.
"We'd bring in new people and they would wonder why George didn't say anything to them. I'd explain, 'If you're not spoken to, then you're doing fine. The time to worry is when you're spoken to'.
"Barbara Dickson is the same. I remember driving her new Saab 2000 convertible with her in the passenger seat. She said, 'do you like driving my car?', of course I said yes.
"She said, 'why don't you put your f***ing foot down or else we'll never get there'. She's a straight talker, and that's good."
But while it might all sound like the height of glamour, Jake points out that it's tougher than it sounds.
"Touring isn't for everyone, the road finds people out pretty quickly," he says. "You need big reserves of strength to get through it. And there's not many women will put up with you being away for most of the year with a rock band."
Jake's relationship with the mother of his two children didn't survive his career. He's now single, while son, Bradley, 22, is fresh from a marketing degree course and daughter Jade, 19, has just started training to be a speech therapist.
"You're not home, you're with rock stars and all that it involves. Most relationships don't survive," he says, although
he's the first to admit it's been quite a ride.
"Yeah, I suppose the whole idea of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll isn't far off the mark," laughs Jake. "There's been plenty of that on the road, but I'm sworn to secrecy on quite a lot of it.
"So I'm afraid the best bits, well, they'll have to go with me to the grave."
BRUCE ALMOST SHOWN WHO'S THE BOSS
HE'S called The Boss, but when Jake brought Bruce Springsteen to Edinburgh, it nearly landed him in trouble with the law.
"It was 1996 and we went to Queen's Park next to the Palace of Holyroodhouse and parked two people carriers there with blacked out windows," Jake recalls.
"Bruce and his agent walked towards Salisbury Crags while a couple of park rangers drew up, naturally suspicious.
"We said we were waiting for Bruce Springsteen but it didn't go down well. One of them said 'I've had a difficult day and I don't need you pulling my chain', at which point Bruce appeared.
"The guy could hardly believe his eyes."
Edinburgh Evening News September 2008
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