All you need is love: Deacon Blue's Ricky Ross reveals romantic inspiration

Deacon Blue singer Ricky Ross has revealed how his new album was inspired by the remains of St Valentine in a Scots church.

The chart-topping rockers are due to release their 10th LP next month. Entitled City of Love, it was recorded in Glasgow’s Gorbals – yards from where medieval remains of the famous saint lie.

Dundonian Ricky said: “I discovered that there are bones reputedly belonging to St Valentine in St Francis’ church in the Gorbals.

“These things come from the middle ages, and have been passed down endlessly by old pilgrims.

“But I really loved the idea that the bones of St Valentine lay in a place I first learned about from reading stories like H Kingsley Long’s No Mean City and Jimmy Boyle’s autobiography A Sense of Freedom.

“So I thought it would be interesting to record this record right in the heart of Glasgow.”

Some of St Valentine’s remains were reportedly brought to St Francis’ church in the city’s once-notorious Gorbals by Franciscan monks.

They now reside in a casket in the city’s Blessed John Duns Scotus church, and are visited by hundreds of pilgrims every year. The romantic legend has extra significance for Ricky’s wife, fellow Deacon Blue singer Lorraine McIntosh.

She said: “My parents were married in St Francis.”