Donnie Munro

Lets start at the beginning. Donnie Munro was born on the 2nd August 1953 at Uig on the Isle of Skye. He was brought up with his parents in Portree as well as spending time on his grandparents croft. During his days at primary school he came into contact with a wee boy called Calum Macdonald. Although it was not known at the time, their paths would cross later in life in a major way.

Donnie went to the Gray's School of Art in Aberdeen, before moving on to the Moray House in Edinburgh where he attended a post-graduate teaching course. Donnie would return home to the Isle of Skye on his holidays and it was on one such occasion that he went along to see a local band called Run-Rig. The band included his old pal from primary school Calum Macdonald. Their friendship grew and about a year after this meeting Calum and his brother Rory asked Donnie if he would like to become the singer for Run-Rig. That was the start of a long and successful career with the band for Donnie. He taught art at Inverness Academy, Leith Academy and Tynecastle High School (Edinburgh) before Runrig became a full-time occupation in the early 1980s.

In 1982 Runrig as they were now known turned professional. Donnie and the band became one of Scotland's most popular acts. During the height of their success Runrig albums would outsell all other artists in Scotland - yes they were in Scotland bigger than anyone else.

He was elected as Rector of Edinburgh University in 1991, where he was very much respected by all and took his duties as rector very seriously. 1991 also saw the band perform to a huge audience on the banks of Loch Lomond at Balloch Castle. It seemed castles and Runrig just went together. The band also undertook a huge tour of both Europe and also Scotland including taking the full live performances to the Western Isles. As they said in the video "Wheel in Motion" - "We did not want people in Lewis or similar to see a cut-down version of the show". That summed up Runrig - always putting their fans first whenever they could.

During his life Donnie had always been a supporter of the Labour Party in Scotland, and after the untimely death of Labour Party Leader John Smith, he made up his mind to stand for the UK Parliament.

Donnie has presented many radio shows over the years including a spell at "Scot FM" as well as in more recent years spells at the BBC's Radio Scotland. During 1995 speculation was rife about Donnie leaving Runrig to pursue his political career, but it took until May 1997 for any official word. His last album with Runrig was the Mara album. So in 1997 with the UK general Election looming, Donnie made one of the hardest decisions of his life and left Runrig to stand for the Parliamentary seat of Ross, Skye and Inverness West. But the fans were not prepared to let Donnie slip quietly away and the highlight of his final year with the Band was to be what ended up as 3 concerts at Stirling Castle. Anyone who was either there or has watched the video will know that for everyone it was to be a very emotional few concerts.

Unfortunately the Parliamentary seat Donnie pursued went in the end to the former Liberal Democrat Leader Charles Kennedy, but not without Donnie running him very close to the end.

Luckily for all us fans, in 1999 Donnie couldn't keep away from the recording studio and with help from Chris Harley, they recorded what turned out to be his first solo album "On the West Side" which was released in 2000. Donnie got a band together and they went off and played live again to the fans long starved of that unique voice Donnie has. The band recorded two live performances at Portree and Ayr, and used the material to release the second album from Donnie Munro - simply called "Donnie Munro".

More tours in Scotland and Europe followed over the years, as did a further batch of Albums. In "Gaelic Heart" he went on to create an album he had long wanted to do. It was the chance for Donnie to perform some of his most favourite gaelic songs. Another Studio Album followed at the start of 2003 which was called "Across the City and the World". Donnie released a single to backup the Scottish Rugby teams World Cup hopes in 2003 which was entitled "Down Under". Also in 2003 we saw Donnie undertake a charity walk in the Himalayas for the Highland Society for Blind People, for whom Donnie is the President. Donnie also presented an evening radio show on Radio Scotland for a few weeks while the normal presenter was on holiday.

In 2004 we got the release of Donnie's first DVD "Fields of the Young" as well as another album bearing the same name. (Full reviews of Donnie's solo work can be found elsewhere on this website). Also in 2004 Donnie also performed the old Scottish favourite "Flower of Scotland" in front of the football Fans at the Scotland-Norway World Cup match in October. This lead to Donnie appearing many more times at Hampden in 2005 where he would lead the Tartan Army in singing Flower of Scotland. The single Flower of Scotland was released as part of a promotion involving the Daily Record and Morrisons on the Saturday of the crucial Scotland v Italy World Cup qualifier at Hampden.

During 2005 we saw Donnie go on a mini tour of Scotland playing at a number of venues around Scotland in May through to July. Donnie also made a number of personal appearances during 2005.

In October 2005 we had the release of some of Donnie's favourite songs in a CD entitled Best Of. This was a look back over Donnie's career and contained some of his favourite songs he has performed over the years. This was to be his final work with the German record label Hypertension as in January 2006 Donnie was to announce that he had signed a new deal with the Scottish record label Greentrax. Fans were then treated to bringing in the New Year of 2006 when Donnie appeared on the BBC TV's Hogmanay programme, where he lead the 300,000 strong crowd in Princess Gardens, Edinburgh in singing Auld Lang Syme - again this was a first for television. This was followed up some weeks later with two appearances at the 2006 Celtic Connections. The first was Scottish Men and the second on January 20th was a full Donnie Munro concert, which was recorded by BBC Radio Scotland and got transmitted a week later. Donnie also returned in 2006 to his old secondary school Portree High where he performed on stage with former pupils in a special show to celebrate 100 years of Portree High School.

In 2006 we also saw the release of the Donnie Munro and Friends DVD in April. This was again another television show Donnie had recorded back in 2000 and has become a must for every Donnie Munro fan. We all now eagerly await the release of the next studio album from Donnie Munro which is due to be called Heart of America and should be in the shops July 2006. Several concerts have been planned for 2006 to launch the new CD.

Of course Donnie also continues with his extremely busy position as Development Director for the gaelic-language college Sabhal Mor Ostaig on Skye.