Biography

William Campbell, known as Willie Teddy, was born in Portnaguran in Point, Lewis, on the 23rd of December 1937. He was the eldest of the three sons of Calum Campbell and Jessie Anne MacLeod from Uig. The other two were called John and Ruairidh. William attended Aird Primary School and the Nicolson Institute and after leaving school went to Lews Castle College to study navigation. After finishing college he went to deep sea in 1955, traveling around the world with companies such as Tate & Lyle, Barron Boats, Curries of Leith, and Crawfords of London.

He met Joan MacIver (Joan Sheonaidh Dhonnchaidh Mhòir) from Carloway, at a dance in Back and married her in 1966. They had three daughters - Anna, Caitlin, and Lorraine. Being away at sea, William rarely saw the family and in 1971 he gave up his job. He got a job on the River Clyde, working as a boatman dealing with the boats in the docks. He and his family settled in White Street in Partick. The family suffered a hard blow when Joan died in 1980. As the children were still young, William decided to return home to Lewis and went to live with his mother in Point until the children went to High School. He then lived in Stornoway for the rest of his life.

He wrote the song Gad Ionndrainn in 1981, expressing how he felt after Joan's death; the song was first sung by Christine Primrose. William wrote many songs, including Eilean Beag Leòdhais, and Baile M' Àraich, which won first prize at the Seo Seinn competition in 2004. One of his last songs, Na Rothan-gaoithe, was about the controversial subject of wind turbines.

William passed away in 2022.

List of compositions

Gad Ionndrainn