Allister MacGillivray

Allister MacGillivray CM, D.Litt (hon), (born January 17, 1948) is a Canadian singer/songwriter, guitarist, and music historian from the Cape Breton region of Nova Scotia. He was born in the coal-mining and fishing town of Glace Bay.

He began performing at the age of seven,later became a boy chorister and, as a teen, sang in local folk bands. During his twenties and thirties, he traveled the world as a guitar accompanist with some prominent Celtic performers, including Ryan's Fancy, Makem & Clancy (i.e., Tommy Makem, Liam Clancy) and John Allan Cameron. With Cameron, he performed on the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville in 1970, earning a lengthy standing ovation and stealing the show from the likes of Hank Snow, Roy Rogers and Bill Monroe. Since leaving the road, MacGillivray has lived close to the village of Marion Bridge, also known as Drochaid Mhira which remains strongly Gaelic.

A well-respected author/composer, his most popular songs include: Away From The Roll Of The Sea, Coal Town Road, Kitty Bawn O'Brien, Tie Me Down, Here's To Song, Sea People and You'll Be Home Again — all published by Cabot Trail Music (SOCAN). He is best known for a composition called Song for the Mira that provided the theme as well as the sound track for an Atlantic Canadian film, Marion Bridge. Song For the Mira has been translated into Dutch, French, Scots Gaelic, Japanese & Mi’ kmaq, is available on well over 250 recordings, and is a standard in the Canadian choral-music repertoire. One of the most recorded songs ever by an eastern Canadian writer, Out On The Mira (an alternate title) has been covered by Anne Murray, Foster & Allen, Celtic Thunder, Daniel O’Donnell, Denny Doherty (of The Mamas & The Papas), Phil Coulter, The Canadian Tenors, Frank Patterson, The Los Angeles Children's Chorus, and scores of other noted performers.

...
Wikipedia