(John) Leonard Scollay (8 May 1973 – 25 March 2014) was a fiddle player from the

Shetland Islands Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the no ...

Musical career

Scollay was a founding member of Shetland bands

Bongshang Bongshang are a Scottish band from Shetland, who fuse traditional Shetland and folk styles with rock, funk, electronica and contemporary production techniques. They have been likened to Celtic fusion artists such as Shooglenifty and Martyn Bennett ...

and Rock Salt & Nails, was a former Shetland Young Fiddler of the Year and a BBC

Young Tradition Award The BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award is an annual competition for young folk musicians in the United Kingdom. It was first awarded in 1988 as the Young Tradition Award, taking its present name in 1998. Recent winners of the award include Brighde C ...

finalist. He was described by BBC Radio Scotland DJ Tom Morton as "one of the best fiddle players I've ever heard".

Accidental death

Scollay died in a fishing accident in the early hours of Tuesday 25 March 2014 when the fishing boat he was crewing hit rocks and sank off Shetland.

References

1973 births 2014 deaths Shetland fiddlers 20th-century Scottish male musicians 21st-century Scottish male musicians Deaths by drowning in the United Kingdom {{Shetland-stub