Biography

Carol Galbraith was born and raised in Campbeltown. Her family had a connection to Gigha before they moved to Kintyre. Her father was a skipper, and she remembers, when he came home, how her mother would ask him to sing to her. This was how she learned her first songs.

The Reverend Thomas MacPherson, who wrote the play 'S Leam Fhìn an Gleann, was the family minister and Carol remembers one Sunday School afternoon when he asked her to sing. That was the first time she sang in front of an audience. She was in the village youth choir from the age of six and they would attend local mods. Later, she joined the Campbeltown Gaelic Choir, which had an outstanding reputation at that time and was led by Calum MacCallum [5459].

At the 1948 National Mòd, she won the Òran Mòr competition, among other awards. Although she took part in the adult competition, she was still young enough to take part in youth competitions, and she won first prize for Girls' Singing, aged 16-18, in the same year. She won the Gold Medal at the Mòd in Edinburgh in 1951. She was also a member of the Glasgow Gaelic Choir for a few years in the early 1950s.

Carol graduated with an MA from the University of Glasgow and afterwards went to Jordanhill College where she earned certificates both for teaching mathematics in secondary school and for primary school teaching. In 1952 she married the scholar and famous bard, Professor Derek Thomson, and they had six children. They moved from Glasgow to Aberdeen in 1956 and she began learning Lieder, 19th century German songs. She was also a member of the Aberdeen Bach Choir.

Carol was an able Highland dancer and at one time she would sing and dance at concerts. She was also interested in poetry, in Gaelic but mostly in Scots, and her work has been published in many magazines.