He first achieved success in the mid-1970s as lead vocalist and bassist of Pilot, who scored hits with "Magic", "January", "Just a Smile" and "Call Me Round" before splitting in 1977.

Paton initially joined the Bay City Rollers for a short period of time but never recorded with them.

After leaving them in October 1970, Longmuir switched back to bass, and Paton became a member of another band called 'Fresh', which changed their name to Christyan and released a single, "Nursery Lane", in 1971.

[6] On it was included their first major hit, "Magic" [7] and Bairnson, who was still not an official member of the band, joined them after the recording of the first album.

Paton played bass and sang with the band until the 1986 album Stereotomy as he continued to work with other artists as a touring- and session musician.

In 1980, Paton already recorded an album with the title No Ties No Strings at the Abbey Road Studios, which was never released.

[10] In 1985, he participated to the original score for the movie Ladyhawke which was written, composed and played by Andrew Powell and produced by Alan Parsons.

Paton also appeared solo in the Countdown Spectacular 2 concert series in Australia, between August and September 2007, as a performer and musical director.

[14] In 2016 and 2017, Paton, along with Ian Bairnson, was back live as Band Pilot, primarily in Japan, the UK and Germany.