Mary Ann Kennedy

Mary Ann Kennedy is Gaelic Singer of the Year 2019 (STMAs) and a Scottish Book Trust/ Comhairle nan Leabhraichean New Writer Awardee 2020.

An urban Gael from multi-cultural Glasgow, Mary Ann’s earliest memories are of a home filled with words and music. She was part of the founding cohort of the UK’s first state-funded music school at Douglas Academy in Glasgow. She graduated from the RSAMD in Glasgow and continued with a Master’s in harp performance at the RNCM, alongside original research into Gaelic mouth music. While in Manchester she joined Yehudi Menhuin’s Live Music Now! scheme as its first non-classical musician, and the scheme’s principles of inclusion and accessibility to the arts remain with her today.

She joined the BBC in 1993, ultimately running the Gaelic news service, and developed a parallel career as a radio and TV broadcaster. She is now based in Ardgour, Lochaber where she runs Watercolour Music, a recording studio and creative centre, with husband and fellow musician-producer Nick Turner.