A tribute to Ian Bairnson

Ian Bairnson, who died on 7 April, was certainly one of the more remarkable people from Shetland, born here on 3 August 1953. He spent his early years in Levenwick, moving to Edinburgh when he was nine. His parents, Emily and Jackie Bairnson, ran a small shop in Levenwick. The Shetland economy had poor times in the 1950s, and Levenwick was no different. His father had muscular dystrophy and died young. Jackie, a kind and gentle man, had certainly fought against his problem. He was in the Merchant Navy in World War Two, and was sunk along with the museum’s first curator Tom Henderson. In a Radio Shetland recording from 1996 Ian said it was his father’s wish that the family should move south after he died. Like many other Shetlanders at that time, they did.

Ian had started playing the guitar in Levenwick. Shetland’s remarkable guitarist Peerie Willie Johnson was living over the hill in Maywick at the time. It was a feasible journey for a young boy on his pushbike. Willie never saw himself as an instructor, but -- he wouldn’t teach you anything, he would just play and if I was just able to sit and listen to him I would pick things up. He certainly did pick things up, keyboards and saxophone as well. He came on well playing in Edinburgh, and moved to London when he was nineteen -- I just went down with the attitude that I was not coming back and one way and another I’d get in … I was not a brat, don’t get me wrong … I was very Shetlander about it, and very quiet.

Ian practising saxophone at his sister Evelyn's house

He didn’t contemplate failure, and he didn’t fail. In late 1974 he was at No. 11 on the charts with Magic, a song by the Scottish band Pilot. On 26 January 1975 another Pilot single January got to No. 1, there for three weeks. Shetlanders could point at Top of the Pops (in black and white) – dere’s Ian Bairnson! He had a period of fame, but Pilot’s personnel moved on by 1978, and Ian moved out of the spotlight.

He had a long commitment to the Alan Parsons’ Project, a group organised around Pink Floyd producer Alan Parsons. They sold millions of records, but mainly outside the UK. For their 1996 album On Air, Ian wrote Brother Up In Heaven for his cousin Erik Mounsey, a United States army helicopter pilot shot down in a 1994 friendly fire incident in Iraq. He also played for a roster of very well-known musicians. There was a Kenny Rogers album in Paris with George Martin, songs for Bucks Fizz, and notably, the guitar on Kate Bush’s Wuthering Heights. He didn’t forget home, although a person in his kind of industry could easily have never had much to do with it ever again. At one time he had a website, Levenwick Times. There’s youtube footage of Ian playing with Peerie Willie, and a twelve minute clip of him playing in the Garrison Theatre. Someone there remarks that Ian was a low profile legend.

Ian at Levenwick beach

He seems to have rather liked his low-profile status, though he might have been a bit embarrassed about the word legend. If you spoke to him, he never gave the impression of the sort of status he did hold. He said on Radio Shetland -- I would never want to be splatted all over the newspapers because it's only a matter of time, and I don't think there's an exception to this, it's only a matter of time the more you build yourself up the greater your fall will be in the end. Ian Bairnson contributed a great deal to other people’s art, knew well the difference between success and fame, and how to stay on the right side of both.

Photos copyright Evelyn Sutherland.

Related Posts

Rounding up a busy week

During the winter months, our team at Shetland Museum and Archives dedicates a lot of time to community engagement connecting with ...

Read more

Fun Friday night at our Skekler Social

What a fun Friday night we had at our Skekler Social, there was making, yarning, music, stories and even a bit of dancing too!

Read more

Shetland Amenity Trust secures successful funding for maritime heritage project

Shetland Amenity Trust is delighted to announce that it has been approved funding of just under £97,000 from the Coastal Communities ...

Read more

Museum Shop Sunday

Shetland Museum and Archives invites visitors to an afternoon of festive cheer, exclusive shopping opportunities and creative crafts ...

Read more

Hay's Dock by the Dowry announces closure

It is with regret that we announce the closure of 'Hay's Dock by The Dowry', which was operated by Beervana Ltd, located at Shetland ...

Read more

Can you help us identify the last unknown person photographed in Chris Morphet’s Allover Exhibition?

We would love to be able to find the name of the lady standing in front of a peat stack and complete our search before the exhibition ...

Read more

New exhibition coming soon: ‘Allover’ – a photographic journey into 1970s Fair Isle knitwear by Chris Morphet

Shetland Museum and Archives is delighted to announce the opening of its latest exhibition next Saturday, ‘Allover’ celebrating ...

Read more

The Crafts of Foragers - new display

Shetland Museum and Archives is proud to announce a new display, The Crafts of Foragers, offering a captivating glimpse into ...

Read more

Shetland Museum unveils Twenty Shades of Blue in new art exhibition inspired by Shetland’s Seascapes

Shetland Museum is delighted to announce the opening of an inspiring new exhibition, Twenty Shades of Blue, in the Gadderie space this ...

Read more

New photographic exhibition capturing 1970s social history

A new photographic exhibition opens today at Shetland Museum and Archives which provides a glimpse into an aspect of Shetland’s ...

Read more

‘All About Everything’ featuring the creative work of Eric Gray students

The creative and colourful work of Eric Gray students is on display from today in a new exhibition ‘All About Everything’ at the ...

Read more

Marion Ninianson’s Roup

Roup is a word not commonly used in Shetland any more, although the Shetland Times in 1962 advertised a house in Scalloway “for sale ...

Read more

New summer exhibition Ebbe and Flow to open this weekend

A new exhibition celebrating cultural and maritime connections with Scandinavia through the work of Scottish and Norwegian artists ...

Read more

Shetland Amenity Trust celebrates collaboration with Shetland Family History Group in acquiring Gilbert Goudie’s Notebook

Shetland Amenity Trust is delighted to announce the successful acquisition of a significant 19th century notebook to the Shetland ...

Read more

Wonderful woolly evening at the Shetland Museum

What a fantastic evening at the Shetland Museum celebrating the announcement of the new Shetland Wool Week Patrons, the Doull Family, ...

Read more