Roy Williamson
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Roy Williamson (25 June 1936, Edinburgh - 12 August 1990, Forres) was a Scottish songwriter and folk musician, most notably with The Corries.
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[edit] Early life
Williamson's mother played the piano. At school he learned to play the recorder by ear, pretending to read music. The teacher found out and banned him from music lessons. He went to Wester Elchies School, then Aberlour House and Gordonstoun in Moray. He taught seamanship and navigation at Burghead before going to Edinburgh College of Art. It was there in 1955 that he met Ronnie Browne, with whom he would team up in The Corries. The partnership lasted over thirty years.
[edit] The Corries
Williamson joined Bill Smith and Ron Cockburn to form the "Corrie Folk Trio" in 1962. A corrie is a circular dip in a highland mountain. They chose it to evoke the Scottish landscape.
The trio's first performance was in the Waverley Bar in St Mary's Street, Edinburgh. After a few weeks Cockburn left. They had already accepted an engagement at the Edinburgh Festival so Williamson suggested that Ronnie Browne should be brought in to make up numbers. They also added female Irish singer Paddie Bell to become the "Corrie Folk Trio and Paddie Bell". The audience was only eight people for the debut of this line-up but by the end of the festival it was house full at every performance.
[edit] Combolin
Williamson was a skilled woodworker. In the summer of 1969 he combined a mandolin and a guitar into a single instrument which he dubbed the combolin. It was then possible to play guitar or mandolin and simultaneously use the thumb to pluck the bass lines. It had 28 strings, some of which were designed to resonate, in the same way as a sitar. He made another, slightly different one in the same summer. The Corries' next album Strings and Things (1970) was specifically designed to showcase the new instrument.
[edit] Flower of Scotland
Williamson wrote Flower of Scotland, the unofficial Scottish national anthem. He was once mistaken for an Englishman and attacked in Edinburgh. Ironically, his assailants walked away singing Flower of Scotland.[citation needed]
[edit] Rugby
As a young man, Roy Williamson played rugby for Edinburgh Wanderers. However, he suffered from asthma and before a series of concerts he would deliberately cease treatment in order to provoke attacks and gain temporary immunity. From 1987 Williamson's health went into decline and he spent his last years living in Forres, close to where he spent his school years. He died of a brain tumour in 1990.
