William Jackson

Who is William Jackson?

William Jackson is a Scottish harpist and composer.

Jackson was born in Cambuslang, near Glasgow. As his grandparents came from County Donegal, he visited Ireland many times, throughout his childhood, and still has a home there. He trained as a music therapist at the Guildhall School of Music in 1992/93, and currently heads the Music therapy department at Mission Children's Hospital in Asheville, North Carolina. In 1969 he formed the Scottish folk group Contraband, who released an album in 1974, then disbanded in 1975. Jackson's brother George was also a member. He became a founding member of Ossian in 1976.

Ossian disbanded in about 1989, and this allowed Jackson to experiment on his own. From 1989, calling himself William Jackson rather than Billy Jackson, he released a series of albums, sometimes using ancient texts, and on one occasion a poem by Kahlil Gibran. In 1996, A Scottish Island was commissioned by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. In 1999 he wrote Land of Light and won the Song for Scotland competition with this song. It was performed at Edinburgh Castle on July 27, 2000 to mark the 100th birthday of the Queen Mother, and was featured at the 2000 Edinburgh Tattoo. He arranged and performed the music for Battle of the Clans, a documentary on The History Channel. As a producer, he has worked with several singers on the anthology Celtic Woman. Duan Àlbanach was recorded with the Scottish Festival Orchestra, recorded live in 2002, but not released until 2003.