Bio
Gaelic and Scots singer and harp player, Maggie MacInnes, was born in Glasgow but comes from a long line of Gaelic singers from the Island of Barra in the Outer Hebrides. She sings songs which have been passed on in her family for generations and she learned most of her songs from her mother, the highly acclaimed traditional singer, Flora MacNeil MBE.
Maggie was an early recipient of the BBC Scots Trad Music Awards’ “Gaelic Singer of the Year” and has been involved in various groups over the years, travelling widely with her music at home and abroad. She has composed music for two BBC documentaries (“A Fagail Mhiughalaidh” and “An Traigh Mhòr”) and has acted as music producer of, and performed in, many Gaelic language television and radio programs.
In 2004 Maggie was given a “New Voices” commission by Glasgow’s Celtic Connections Festival for which she composed a suite of music called “Oran na Mnà” (A Woman’s Song). This new music was later released on CD and was the inspiration for and features in an 8-part television series of the same name which was broadcast on BBC Alba (latest broadcast dates between September-November,2025). The music and the programme pay tribute to the role of women in the poetry, music and song of Gaelic Scotland.
Maggie has always been aware of the close ties between the Scottish and Irish Gaelic language and culture, and so she was deeply honoured to be awarded the title of “Hero of the Arts” at a special festival called Féile na Laoch (The Festival of Heroes) celebrating cultural heroes including storytellers, poets ,singers, dancers and musicians, in County Cork, Ireland at the end of July 2025.
Since her first solo album, “Eilean Mara” was released in 1998 and co-produced by well-known singer songwriter, Dougie MacLean, Maggie has gone on to release five more solo albums as well as releasing an album with Irish singer, Colum Sands, called “The Seedboat” (Bàta-an-t-Sìl).
Maggie’s latest release is a single, called “Fàth Mo Mhulaid a Bhith Ann” (Being here has caused my sorrow), which has been featured in a new video game called “Still Wakes The Deep”, released on 18th June 2024 by The Chinese Room, bringing Maggie’s music to an even wider global audience. This relationship with the video game industry and The Chinese Room continued into the expansion of the “Still Wakes The Deep” Game which is called “Siren’s Rest” which was released on 18th June 2026 and featured Maggie singing an adaptation of the traditional Gaelic song, “Cairistiona”.