Fiona MacGillivray
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Fiona MacGillivray is the lead singer of the Celtic group The Cottars. She has shared the bill with her brother Ciarán MacGillivray and siblings Roseanne and Jimmy MacKenzie.
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[edit] Early biography
Fiona was born April 19, 1989 to songwriter Allister MacGillivray and wife Beverly in the village of Albert Bridge[1] on Nova Scotia's Cape Breton Island. She credits her parents for her musical inspiration. Aside from her singing, they encouraged Fiona to play multiple instruments, including the harp, piano, tin whistle, bodhran, and bouzouki as well as pursue writing songs and music.
Fiona often credits Colm Wilkinson's Opera Ghost in Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera as being her first inspiration to sing. As a young child, she frequently impressed notable family friends such as Rita MacNeil and Tommy Makem with her vocal maturity. She also found a liking of the film set in CBC's period drama Pit Pony.
In 2000, Fiona and Ciarán were invited to perform on The Barra MacNeils' Christmas Special along with special guests The Ennis Sisters. Ciaran and Fiona performed two numbers to standing ovations. The program aired on Country Music Television in 2000.
This was also the year Fiona and her brother met future bandmates, the MacKenzie siblings from Baddeck at a festival on the island of Iona. The following Christmas, the foursome (at this point, unnamed) had their first performance, A Child's Celtic Christmas, at the Highland Heights Inn Resort in Iona.
Fiona's first professional recording came in 2001 for the compilation CD. Cape Breton By Request, when she was 11 years old. Singing Jimmy Rankin's Farethee Well Love, she was the only artist on the compilation asked to submit a previously unrecorded track.
[edit] With The Cottars
In 2002, The Cottars were featured in Irish Tenor John McDermott's PBS production A Time to Remember, and were introduced to their future agent, Pam McDermott (no relation) of McDermott entertainment.
It was then that The Cottars released their first CD Made In Cape Breton, on Warner Music in 2002. The disc, with single Tom Waits's "The Briar and the Rose", showcased John McDermott's vocals along with Fiona's in two duets. The CD won them much critical acclaim as well as an East Coast Music Award (ECMA) for Best New Artist in February of the following year and a nomination for Best Artist. The ECMA broadcast also featured Fiona in the group's live rendition of their single, which was received with a standing ovation. The performance was nominated for an Emmy Award.
The Cottars released their second CD, On Fire on Warner Music in 2004, which won them an ECMA for Best Traditional Group. They released their latest CD Forerunner on Rounder Records in 2005, with two new Tom Waits covers by Fiona; "Georgia Lee" and "Hold On".
In 2005-2006, The Cottars were invited on a 25-city tour with The Chieftains, ending in Carnegie Hall on St. Patrick's Day, where they performed with new friend Elvis Costello.
[edit] Cottar no more
In July 2006 after extensive touring in Canada, America, Europe, and Japan, it was announced that the group would disband, citing disagreements between the two pairs of siblings. Although it was Ciaran and Fiona MacGillivray who were reported as ending the professional relationship first, new tour dates were soon scheduled featuring a new arrangement in which the MacKenzie siblings were not included. Roseanne has been quoted as saying she was 'devastated.' Claire Pettit, also 16, a new fiddler who divides her time between New York and Cape Breton was integrated successfully into The Cottars along with guitarist Bruce Timmons, the only non-teen in the group, to form the new band. Word has not been released yet as to whether the band will continue as is, but there will not be a reunion of the original members.
[edit] Influences
- Tom Waits — Fiona has recorded three Tom Waits songs to date. ("The Briar and the Rose", "Georgia Lee", "Hold On")
- Rufus Wainwright
- The Beatles
- John Lennon — While on tour with The Cottars, Fiona reportedly paid a visit to Yoko Ono's John Lennon Forever Museum in Japan.
[edit] Discography
- Cape Breton By Request (2000) — Sings Jimmy Rankin's Farethee Well Love
- Made In Cape Breton (2002)
- On Fire (2004)
- Forerunner (2005)
