Biography

Roddy Campbell, Ruairidh Pheter Ruairidh, was born in Nask, Barra, on the 22nd of June 1937. His mother was Theresa Johnson, Tèireag Aonghais Chaluim, and she was sister to Calum and Annie Johnston, who made numerous valuable recordings of songs and stories for the School of Scottish Studies, for the Campbell of Canna and the BBC.

Roddy was the only boy and the youngest in a family in which there were three girls: Catriona, Mary, and Annie. He went to Castlebay School and then at the age of 15, to Fort William High School. Roddy then went to the University of Glasgow where he graduated with an M.A. After training at Jordanhill College, Roddy was fortunate enough to get work at Castlebay School. After five years, he moved to Glasgow to St Gregory's School on the east side of the city.

Roddy married Jean MacKellaig from Fort William in 1968 and they had three children, Rory, Marianne, and Innes. After they married, they moved to Kinlochleven where they lived for three years. They moved south again to Stirling so that Roddy could get a certificate to teach mathematics. After gaining that, he worked in schools in Alva, Alloa, Stirling, and Falkirk, until he retired in 1996. When he moved to Stirling, he joined the Stirling Gaelic Choir and it was around that time, when he was about 30 years old, that he began singing, although he had been a piper long before that. Calum, his mother's brother, had given him a chanter when he was 11 and the small pipes when he was 14. He had some tuition from Neil Angus MacDonald who was head of Castlebay School, and from Donald Johnston, a relative of his mother.

Roddy’s musical talents were passed down to his children. Roddy and two of his children started the band Gleus, along with Donald MacKenzie, and for about six years they would play in clubs and festivals throughout the country. Rory, playing pipes and fiddle, and Mairianna on fiddle and piano, made a name for themselves in the band Deaf Shepherd, and Rory was later in the Old Blind Dogs, The Big Spree, and Caledon. As a teenager, Innes had little interest in music. After graduating from university, he went to work as a doctor in Australia. But it seems Innes could not escape his roots, as he won the Bluegrass music competition, where he was up against musicians from all over Australia.

A CD of Roddy’s songs was recorded under the name Tarraing Anmoch. Roddy and Jean now have returned to live in Barra, in the Glen, Castlebay.