Julie Fowlis is a Scottish folk singer and multi-instrumentalist from North Uist in the Outer Hebrides. She sings primarily in Scottish Gaelic and works within folk and Celtic traditions.

Career

Fowlis is associated with the bands Dòchas and Spell Songs, and releases music on Machair Records. She builds a reputation for performing and touring with songs from the Hebridean islands, bringing Gaelic-language material to wider audiences. Her work also includes broadcasting, presenting the BBC Scotland programmes Travelling Folk and Global Gathering.

Instruments and performance

She is an accomplished instrumentalist as well as a singer, playing Highland bagpipes, smallpipes, whistles, oboe, cor anglais and the one-row melodeon. Her live sessions and performances attract a wide following, and she appears on television and radio programmes including Later...with Jools Holland and Transatlantic Sessions.

Awards and recognition

Fowlis wins the Horizon Award at the 2006 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards and is nominated for Folk Singer of the Year in 2007 before winning the award in 2008. She is also voted Gaelic Singer of the Year at the Scots Trad Music Awards in 2005 and 2007, and her album cuilidh, made with her husband Eamon Doorley, is voted Album of the Year at those awards. She is the only singer to win the Gaelic Singer of the Year award twice.

Reception

Her voice attracts praise from musicians and broadcasters including Mark Radcliffe and KT Tunstall, while fans include Ricky Gervais and Phil Selway of Radiohead.

Language and reach

Although she sings in a language spoken by a relatively small number of people in Scotland, her music reaches international audiences and is heard by listeners around the world.