Thomas Fraser (singer)
Thomas James Fraser (March 20, 1927 – January 6, 1978) was a Scottish fisherman and Country and Western and rhythm and blues musician from Shetland.
Thomas Fraser | |
|---|---|
 Thomas Fraser | |
| Background information | |
| Born | March 20, 1927 |
| Origin | Burra, Shetland, Scotland |
| Died | 6 January 1978 (aged 50) |
| Genres | Country and Western |
| Occupation(s) | Musician |
| Instrument(s) | Fiddle/Guitar |
| Years active | Posthumously |
| Labels | Nel Records |
Fraser was born in on the isle of Burra. He never released any recordings during his lifetime and rarely played live before paying audiences. He made a number of recordings on a reel to reel tape recorder, which family members circulated after his death. In the late 1990s some of these tapes were transferred to CD.
In 2002 Nel Records put out a small pressing of Long Gone Lonesome Blues a selection of some of the original tapes. Two more CDs followed (You & My Old Guitar (2003) and Treasure Untold (2005)), and a yearly Thomas Fraser memorial festival was begun in Shetland in 2002. A fourth CD of previously unreleased material, That Far Away Land, was released in November 2008. The following month, BBC Scotland aired a 30-minute documentary on the life of Thomas Fraser entitled Shetland Lone Star. A DVD featuring this programme and highlights of the annual Thomas Fraser Festival was released in October 2009. The National Theatre of Scotland also toured Scotland during October with a full theatrical production on the life of Thomas Fraser, entitled Long Gone Lonesome. The production was revived for a 2012 tour of the United States of America. A fifth CD of unreleased material is due out in November 2010.
Death
He died from complications of a sailing incident on 6 January 1978.[1]