He went on to co-write some of The Human League's best known songs during their most successful period, including their biggest worldwide hit, "Don't You Want Me".
The pair recruited local bass player Dave Smythe and fellow student Mark Sinclair Harris, who was studying architecture at the college,[2] on second guitar, and formed their new band the Rezillos in March 1976.
Forbes had also introduced two fashion design students named Sheilagh Hynd and Gail Jamieson (aka Gayle Warning) to the group as backing singers.
Having spent several months practising, the group's debut live performance was at Teviot Row House, the students' union building of the University of Edinburgh, on 5 November 1976,[1] playing a set composed entirely of cover versions of 1950s and '60s classics.
In June 1977 the band recorded their début single, "Can't Stand My Baby" (with "I Wanna Be Your Man" on the B-side), at Barclay Towers, the "studio" being little more than some recording equipment set up in producer Tony Pilley's top-floor tenement flat in Bruntsfield in south-west Edinburgh.
Not wanting to give up their professional careers, Smythe and Harris left the group amicably to return to their academic studies, and Mysterious switched to the bass guitar.
This grazed the lower reaches of the UK Singles Chart, and contained different versions of the songs found on the album release.
This soured the group's relationship with the record label, as they felt they were losing the momentum they had built up and twice had to cancel a planned tour.
In October 1978, the group recorded a new single, "Destination Venus", with producer Martin Rushent at The Manor, for release the following month.
By now there were growing tensions within the band about the group's future direction (Smythe observed that from the start there had always been two factions within the band, one centred on boyfriend/girlfriend vocalists Reynolds and Fife, and the other on songwriter Callis,[5]) and with what they felt was poor treatment from their label: Reynolds was unhappy with Sire's choice of photographer for the single's cover and the single's mix and £5000 cost.
[7] Reynolds and Fife refused to agree to this, and unable to reach a consensus, on 22 November 1978 the Rezillos made the decision to split up.
[8] They did, however, reunite to play the last scheduled date of the aborted tour at the Glasgow Apollo on 23 December 1978, as a farewell concert.
The show featured guest spots by former members William Mysterious on saxophone and Gail Warning on backing vocals.
[3] The group were not successful and after they split Paterson joined local Edinburgh band TV21, featuring on their album "A Thin Red Line" [9] After briefly playing in Edinburgh post-punk band Boots for Dancing, Callis was invited to join The Human League by their manager Bob Last, just as The Human League were embarking on their most successful period of their career (Last had also been the Rezillos' manager).
Joining up with former bandmate Hi-Fi Harris and Reynolds' brother Rocky Rhythm (real name Nicky Forbes) on drums,[10] they renamed themselves the Revillos, and continued to make music in a similar style to their former band.
In 2001, the Rezillos were persuaded to reform and play at Edinburgh's New Year's Eve Hogmanay celebrations by Stuart Nisbit, guitarist for the festival's headline act The Proclaimers.