Kenneth McKellar (23 June 1927 – 9 April 2010) was a lyric tenor and among the most popular of Scotland's singers, recording both classical and popular music.
Kenneth McKellar was born on June 23 1927 at Paisley, where his father owned a grocery shop. Although there were no musicians in the family, Kenneth's father and uncles sang in the High Kirk and his parents would often listen to opera on the gramophone. The boy grew up listening to the voices of singers such as Peter Dawson, Paul Robeson and Richard Tauber and recalled being taken to a concert at St Andrew's Hall in Glasgow to hear the great Italian tenor Beniamino Gigli. Kenneth was soon entertaining family friends by impersonating his favourite singers.
But his greatest pleasure in his early years was exploring the Scottish Highlands. The depletion of Scotland's forest reserves during the Second World War left him with a burning desire to help restore them, and after leaving the John Neilson school, Paisley, he took a Science degree from Aberdeen University and joined the Scottish Forestry Commission. Over the next two years he took part in a research and survey programme on the woodlands of the British Isles, travelling by horseback up and down the Scottish countryside.At university, McKellar had joined the student choir. The university's director of music was so impressed that he gave him lessons, and McKellar went on to sing solo roles with the university choir. He first came to public notice in 1947 through a broadcast with the BBC in Glasgow when he sang the main tenor role in the ballad opera The Gentle Shepherd. After a couple of years with the Forestry Commission, McKellar decided to devote himself to music. He gained a top
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scholarship to the Royal College of Music in London, where he won the Henry Leslie singing prize. Among his contemporaries were Joan Sutherland and the future founder of Scottish Opera, Alex Gibson.
His recording career began while he was still at the RCM. It happened that he needed to have his tonsils out, and a friend suggested, jokingly, that in case the surgeon's scalpel slipped, he should cut a recording for posterity. He went along to HMV and sang Roger Quilter's O
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Mistress Mine and a few Scottish ballads. HMV sent the recording to Parlophone, which immediately gave him a recording contract. He recorded eight sides of songs and ballads on 78s. After graduating from the RCM, McKellar joined the Carl Rosa Opera Company. He expected to be assigned to the chorus but, during his audition, was asked to sing the opening aria from The Barber of Seville. He was immediately offered a principal tenor's contract at £15 a week and was so pleased that he got married and bought a car.
He toured with the company for two seasons but did not like the life of an opera singer. After abandoning the operatic stage, in 1954 McKellar signed with the Decca record company. Over a period of 25 years he recorded some 45 LPs, ranging from oratorio to Burns songs, achieving massive sales all over the world.
During the 1950s McKellar became well-known in Scotland through radio, singing Scottish songs, light opera and popular songs on his own series, A Song For Everyone, for the BBC. At the same time, he began trying his hand as a songwriter and was responsible for such ballads as The Tartan, which has been covered by some 40 artistes; The Royal Mile, which was heard by more than four million people during the televised opening of the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh; and for comedy items such as The Midges ("With teeth like piranhas, they drive you bananas... ").
He held trusteeships in various education, health and arts organisations helping to promote Scottish talent and was honorary president and life member of most of the principal Burns societies around the world. But his Scottish nationalism was always outward-looking, and he was opposed to the creation of a Scottish parliament. He retired from performing in 1997.McKellar died of pancreatic cancer, at the age of 82, at his daughter's home near Lake Tahoe in the United States, on 9 April 2010. His funeral was in Paisley. (Edited from The Telegraph & Wikipedia)