MBE for Gaelic singer Alasdair

Singer and TV personality Alasdair Gillies, a long-time resident of Milgavie, has been honoured by the Queen.

The former Mod gold medallist and internationally known singer and television celebrity, was awarded an MBE for services to music, the Gaelic language and charities.

He is chairman of the 
Urras Brosnachaidh na Gaelic (The Gaelic Language Promotion Trust), president of The Scottish Showbusiness 
Benevolent Fund and a former chairman of the West of Scotland Branch of The Princess Royal Trust for Carers.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Born in Glasgow on January 8, 1938, to Gaelic-speaking parents from Skye, Alasdair could not help but become a singer in a family where gathering round the fireside for a tune or two was a way of life.

His father was an avid song collector and wrote many songs that are now held in the School of Scottish Studies.

Alasdair, a dentist by trade, made his first album in 1963, for Thistle Records in Edinburgh and went to record for the Beltona and Decca labels and at Abbey Road studios.

Never afraid to blend the new with the old, he recorded Gaelic versions of Beatles songs, including Yesterday and Michelle, and even 
Eurovision winner Puppet on a String .

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

He also has appered 
regular on both the BBC and STV as well as at city theatres, including a ten-week season at the King’s Theatre in Edinburgh.

Alasdair is also a graduate of Glasgow University and a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Surgeons of Glasgow.