Fiona Mackenzie - Singer Songwriter

Fiona, from the Isle of Lewis, began singing at an early age - at home with her family and in her local Gaelic choirs.  After leaving the island to study in Glasgow, she joined the Edinburgh-based Celtic band, Seelyhoo, with whom she recorded two albums.  She then went on to join, and record with, the internationally acclaimed band, Anam, whilst continuing to sing in the trio Mackenzie with two of her sisters Eilidh and Gillian. Mackenzie have released two albums and are still doing various recording and performance projects. 

She has been writing songs since her early teens and has used a mixture of her own material and traditional song in her recordings with Seelyhoo, Mackenzie and Anam.  As a professional singer, Fiona has also featured in many radio and television broadcasts.  Fiona also often records and sings with her singer-songwriter husband - Brian Ó hEadhra.  More recently Fiona has been performing with the Scottish Gaelic singing quartet Cruinn.  

Although a large part of Fiona's musical background draws upon her Gaelic culture, she has always taken an interest in music from other genres.  Most of her own songs have been written in English and are influenced and inspired by many different types of music.

On "Elevate" (Linn AKD 307), her debut solo album, all tracks are Fiona's own compositions (music and lyrics) except the lyrics in the three Gaelic tracks; two of these use lyrics by her sister, Eilidh Mackenzie, while An Roghainn is a poem by Sorley Maclean.  The album was recorded and produced by the acclaimed producer Calum Malcolm and is released on Linn Records in 2008.