Maggie Macdonald

She was born on 17 November 1952 in Glasgow, Scotland. She was the daughter of Alasdair Michie, a senior police detective who had family on the Braes of Skye.[1]

She was part of the Inverness Gaelic Choir and in 1991 travelled with them to take part in a Gaelic festival in Vancouver, Canada where she won a solo singing competition.[2] She appeared in her second Mòd final in 1993 in Airdrie.[3] The following year, in Dunoon, she won gold medal in solo singing.[4] In 1998 she formed the band Cliar, along with cousin Mary Ann Kennedy, Arthur Cormack, Bruce MacGregor and others.[5] The band's eponymous first album Cliar was named Best Album in 2003 at the inaugural Scots Trad Music Awards.[1] The band were often described as a Gaelic supergroup.[6][7][8]

She was part of The Campbells of Greepe, family members from Skye with a long tradition of performing unaccompanied Gaelic song.[9] They were accomplished at puirt à beul, one of the most difficult genres of Gaelic song to perform.[10]

She also performed Gaelic Opera, Mac-Talla nan Eun, singing the last lament in a 2007 performance that was broadcast live.[11] The same year, she also appeared on Duan Nollaig, an album that was the first ever recorded collection of Christmas carols and songs in Gaelic.[12]

She was a member of the Inverness Gaelic choir.[13] She was on the board of directors of Fèis Rois, an organisation supporting Gaelic culture.[14]

She died on 26 July 2016.[1]