Isla St Clair
| Isla St Clair | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Isabella Margaret Dyce |
| Born | 1952 (age 64–65) Grangemouth, Scotland |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, actress, television host |
| Website | www |
Isla St Clair (born 2 May 1952 as Isabella Margaret Dyce) is a Scottish singer, actress and former game show co-host.
Isla St Clair was born in Grangemouth, central Scotland, in 1952. Her family came from northeast Scotland and it was here that she spent her early years. It was in Findochty that she gave her first stage performances, aged three years, at her mother's Brownie concerts and with the local Salvation Army.
In 1955 the family moved to Bradfield Green, near Crewe in Cheshire, before moving back to Scotland in 1960. Zetta Sinclair, Isla's mother, was a talented songwriter and poet, and became a founding member of the Aberdeen Folk Club. The young Isla accompanied her mother to the club where they would both sing. At the club she came to the attention of a BBC producer. She was twelve years old when she sang on her first television programme Talk of the North, followed by the radio series Stories are for Singing. She was a regular guest on many other television and radio shows including Hoot'nanny, My Kind of Folk, Corriefolk, On Tour and Heather Mixture.
Isla was a pupil at Aberdeen Academy and from 1967 Buckie High School. It was on Zetta's remarriage, in 1968, that Isla adopted the original form of her mother's maiden name, St Clair.
In 1969, St Clair moved to Edinburgh to pursue her singing career. During her teenage years she was influenced by her mother's friend Jeannie Robertson, the traditional ballad singer. Another influence was family friend Hamish Henderson of the University of Edinburgh's School of Scottish Studies. He first recorded St Clair when she was twelve, hailing her as the best of her generation. In 1971, St Clair released her first LP Isla St Clair sings Traditional Scottish Songs and she was voted "Female Folk Singer of the Year" by the New Musical Express.
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