Ishbel MacAskill

Ishbel MacAskill (née MacIver, 14 March 1941 – 31 March 2011) was a heritage activist and traditional Scottish Gaelic singer and teacher, often referred to as the "Gaelic diva".

She was born in Loanhead, near Edinburgh, and adopted by Allan and Christina MacIver, natives of Broker, Isle of Lewis. When she was 12, she moved with her family to Stornoway, the Island's capital, where she attended the Nicolson Institute.

She moved to Glasgow for secretarial studies at Stow College and worked for British Rail before marrying Bill MacAskill, a native of Lochinver, Sutherland, in 1964. For the following 15 years she concentrated on raising their four children.

It was not until the age of 38 that MacAskill first sang in public, at a fringe event at the 1979 National Mod. Musician and producer Noel Eadie heard her perform, which led to the first of her several albums. With the encouragement of her husband, before long she was appearing in concerts and festivals worldwide, and became a regular at the Celtic Connections festival in Glasgow and the Celtic Colours Festival in Cape Breton Island.

In 1999 she featured as a guest artist on Transatlantic Sessions 2. In 2003 she represented Scotland at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington, D.C. and appeared at the World Festival of Island Cultures in South Korea. In May and June 2006, she toured Australia leading workshops and concerts in Gaelic song in part as the guest of the Australian Gaelic Singers leading a Gaelic Song Masterclass and two concerts in Sydney.

...
Wikipedia