Arthur Cormack (

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic (, ; Endonym and exonym, endonym: ), also known as Scots Gaelic or simply Gaelic, is a Celtic language native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a member of the Goidelic language, Goidelic branch of Celtic, Scottish Gaelic, alongs ...

: Art MacCarmaig; born 21 April 1965) is a Scottish Gaelic singer and musician from

Portree Portree (; , ) is the capital and largest town of the Isle of Skye in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland.W.H. Murray, Murray, W.H. (1966) ''The Hebrides''. London. Heinemann. Pages 154-155. It is a civil parishes in Scotland, civil parish and lies ...

Isle of Skye The Isle of Skye, or simply Skye, is the largest and northernmost of the major islands in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The island's peninsulas radiate from a mountainous hub dominated by the Cuillin, the rocky slopes of which provide some of ...

and was educated at

Portree High School Portree High School ( Gaelic: ') is a state co-educational comprehensive school in Portree, Isle of Skye in Scotland. , the school enrols 494 pupils and employs 80 teachers and support staff. The school's catchment area draws from 15 primary sch ...

. He is currently Chief Executive Officer of

Fèisean nan Gàidheal Fèisean nan Gàidheal is the National Association of Scottish Gaelic Arts Youth Tuition Festivals. Established in 1988, it is the support organisation for the Fèisean (Scottish Gaelic for Festivals) which are local Gaelic Arts tuition festivals. T ...

Music

Cormack started competing in Gaelic singing competitions when he was 8 and competing at Mòds when he was 11. He won the coveted Gold Medal at the

Motherwell Motherwell (, ) is a List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Shires of Scotland, Historically in the p ...

Mòd in 1983 at the age of 18, the youngest male individual to do so, and went on to release his first album, ''Nuair Bha Mi Òg'', the following year aged just 19. He followed this up in 1989 with the release of his second solo studio album, ''Ruith na Gaoith'', in 1989. He was part of acclaimed Gaelic supergroups Mac-Talla and Cliar, with Mac-Talla releasing their only studio album ''Mairidh Gaol is Ceòl'' in 1994, and Cliar releasing four albums: ''Cliar'' in 2000, which was voted the Best Album at the inaugural Scottish Trad Music Awards in 2003, ''Lasair Dhè'' in 2001, ''Gun Tàmh'' in 2002, and ''Grinn Grinn'' in 2005. In addition to this, he also runs his own Macmeanmna label and continues to guest star on the albums of Blair Douglas. At the 2011

Scots Trad Music Awards The Scots Trad Music Awards or Na Trads were founded in 2003 by Simon Thoumire to celebrate Scotland's traditional music in all its forms and create a high profile opportunity to bring the music and music industry into the spotlight of media an ...

, Cormack received the "Hamish Henderson Services to Traditional Music Award". Cormack released his third solo studio album, his first for 29 years, in 2018, titled ''Buanas'', which received critical acclaim from critics.

Gaelic

Cormack is a strong advocate for the Scottish Gaelic language. In 2009 he was appointed as the chairman of Bòrd na Gàidhlig, having been the organization's interim chairman since the previous year, as well as Chief Executive of

for many years. He was a proactive chairman, often taking to internet forums to counteract anti-Gaelic sentiment. He stepped down in March 2012. He was also formerly on the Board of Directors of Eden Court Theatre in Inverness and the

Scottish Arts Council The Scottish Arts Council (), was a Scottish public body responsible for the funding, development and promotion of the arts in Scotland. The Council primarily distributed funding from the Scottish Government as well as National Lottery funds ...

. In April 2025 Cormack took over as main host of the ''Dùrachdan'' requests show on BBC Radio Nan Gàidheal. He had previously been one of a team of occasional co-hosts, primarily with fellow broadcaster Mairead MacLennan. Cormack was appointed Officer of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(OBE) in the 2015 New Year Honours for services to Gaelic education.

Personal life

Cormack lives in Portree with his wife Shona. They have three children, Ruairidh, Eilidh and Iain. Eilidh, Ruairidh and Iain are all singers, with Eilidh winning the women's Gold Medal and Ruairidh winning the men's Traditional Gold Medal at the

Inverness Inverness (; ; from the , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness") is a city in the Scottish Highlands, having been granted city status in 2000. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highland ...

Mòd in 2014, Ruairidh also winning the men's Gold Medal at the

Dunoon Dunoon (; ) is the main town on the Cowal peninsula in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It is located on the western shore of the upper Firth of Clyde, to the south of the Holy Loch and to the north of Innellan. As well as forming part of the cou ...

Mòd in 2018. Iain went on to win the men's Gold Medal at the Paisley Mòd in 2023. Eilidh is also a member of Scottish traditional band, Sian.

Discography

* Nuair a Bha mi Òg (1984) * Ruith na Gaoithe (1989) * Buanas (2018)

With Mac-Talla

* Mairidh Gaol is Ceòl (1994)

With Cliar

* Cliar (2000) * Lasair Dhè (2001) * Gun Tamh (2002) * Grinn Grinn (2005)

External links

Arthur Cormack profile at FootstompinArthur Cormack singing Solus m’AighMacmeanmna record label
(gaelicmusic.com)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cormack, Arthur 1965 births Living people Scottish Gaelic singers People from the Isle of Skye Officers of the Order of the British Empire People educated at Portree High School