Roy Williamson
| Roy Williamson | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Roy Murdoch Buchanan Williamson |
| Born |
25 June 1936 Edinburgh, Scotland |
| Died | 12 August 1990 (aged 54) Forres, Morayshire, UK |
| Genres | Scottish folk |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, songwriter |
| Instruments | Guitar, mandolin, bodhrán, combolin, English concertina, Northumbrian pipes, whistle, |
| Years active | 1960s–1989 |
| Labels | Scotdisc |
| Website | corries |
| Notable instruments | |
| Combolin | |
Roy Murdoch Buchanan Williamson (25 June 1936 – 12 August 1990) was a Scottish songwriter and folk musician, most notably with The Corries. Williamson is best known for writing "Flower of Scotland", which has become the de facto national anthem of Scotland used at international sporting events.
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.
Williamson joined Bill Smith and Ron Cruikshank to form the "Corrie Folk Trio" in 1962. The trio's first performance was in the Waverley Bar in St Mary's Street, Edinburgh. After a few weeks Ron Cruikshank 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.
By 1965, Paddie Bell and Bill Smith had left. Williamson was a talented multi-instrumentalist and Browne was the singer. They cancelled all engagements for a few months to practice intensively. Under the new name, "The Corries", they performed at the Jubilee Arms Hotel in Cortachy, Angus. The response encouraged them to continue as a duo. Williamson wrote Flower of Scotland, one of several unofficial Scottish national anthems, but now the one that represents Scotland at international rugby and international football matches, and at the Commonwealth Games.
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