Robbie MacNeill (age ) is a guitarist and singer-songwriter who was born in

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of the 2021 Census, the municipal population was 439,819, with 348,634 people in its urban area. The ...

. He attended Queen Elizabeth High School and studied engineering at

Dalhousie University Dalhousie University (commonly known as Dal) is a large public research university in Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the fou ...

for two years, before moving to

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

to work as a surveyor in 1964. In the late sixties and early 70's he arranged, conducted and performed with The Privateers, billed as 'Eastern Canada's Only Professional Fork Chorus'. He went on to work with a number of other artists, and released his own album 'Pieces' in 1984. In 1967, Robbie met

Anne Murray Morna Anne Murray (born June 20, 1945) is a retired Canadian singer. Her albums, consisting primarily of pop, country, and adult contemporary music, have sold over 55 million copies worldwide during her over 40-year career. Murray was the fir ...

while both were performing on CBC's ''

Singalong Jubilee ''Singalong Jubilee'' was a CBC Television programme produced between 1961 and 1974. It featured musical performances by local singers, playing folk, country, and gospel music, in studio on stage and on location. Anne Murray, Catherine McKinnon, K ...

''. She invited him to play backing guitar for her (as a duo) on her early tours of

The Maritimes The Maritimes, also called the Maritime provinces, is a region of Eastern Canada consisting of three provinces: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. The Maritimes had a population of 1,899,324 in 2021, which makes up 5.1% of Ca ...

. Their first show together was at a high school in Nova Scotia. They played weekend shows at small venues such as The Monterey (Halifax, NS), The Prince Edward Lounge (Charlottetown, PEI), Wong's (Antigonish, NS), and the Colonial Inn (Amherst, NS). Anne Murray released singles he wrote, including " Robbie's Song for Jesus" and "A Million More.". She also covered 'Let Sunshine Have Its Day', 'Lullaby' and 'Sleep Child' on her albums. In Anne's autobiography ''All of Me'', she said of MacNeill: "... in addition to being a fine guitar player was a wonderful songwriter. To this day his 'A Million More' is one of my favourite songs." Robbie also played on Anne's brother Bruce Murray's 1975 debut, which included a cover of Robbie's 'Sunshine Song'. Robbie also met

John Allan Cameron John Allan Cameron, (16 December 1938 – 22 November 2006) was a Canadian folk singer, "The Godfather of Celtic Music" in Canada. Noted for performing traditional music on his twelve string guitar, he released his first album in 1969. He r ...

around 1967, and from then on was his main backing guitarist for about 25 years. John Allan sometimes gave Robbie the spotlight to showcase his talent. In 1975

The Ottawa Citizen The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. History Established as ''The Bytown Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris, it was renamed the ''Citizen'' in 1851. The newsp ...

wrote, "Robbie MacNeill opened the second half. He is the essence of the good contemporary folk singer. His voice is clear and distinctive, and his solo guitar is all the accompaniment he needs. He wrote the songs he sang, including Sunshine Love and Evangeline - the beautifully haunting love song he nostalgically wrote for Nova Scotia before moving from Halifax to Toronto two years ago.". Evangeline was published in Coast to Coast Fever and covered by both

Stan Rogers Stanley Allison Rogers (November 29, 1949 – June 2, 1983) was a Canadian folk musician and songwriter. Rogers was noted for his rich, baritone voice and his traditional-sounding songs which were frequently inspired by Canadian history and th ...

('' From Coffee House to Concert Hall'') and

Raffi Raffi Cavoukian, ( hy, Րաֆֆի, born July 8, 1948), known professionally by the mononym Raffi, is a Canadian singer-lyricist and author of Armenian descent born in Egypt, best known for his children's music. He developed his career as a " ...

(''

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''). Robbie was the musical director for John Allan's series on CTV., and produced his album 'Weddings, Wakes and Other Things'. John Allan covered Robbie's Song for Jesus on his 1972 album 'Lord Of The Dance'. Other friends from

include

Gene MacLellan Gene MacLellan (February 2, 1938 – January 19, 1995) was a Canadian singer-songwriter from Prince Edward Island. Among his compositions were "Snowbird", made famous by Anne Murray, "Put Your Hand in the Hand", " The Call", "Pages of Time" ...

and

Brian Ahern (producer) Brian Ahern, CM (born 1945 in Halifax, Nova Scotia) is a Canadian record producer and guitarist. He has produced albums for a wide variety of artists, including 12 albums for Anne Murray; 11 albums for Emmylou Harris (to whom he was also marrie ...

. Brian and Robbie formed a band that was briefly courted by the music industry in Toronto until a member quit. Brian handled Robbie's publishing under his company Tessa in the early 70's, but no album was recorded. Robbie was a member of the trio Country Fair (which later became Graham County), with Toronto singer-songwriter Don Graham. He has performed solo at music festivals such as the

Home County Folk Festival Home County Music & Art Festival (formerly Home County Folk Festival) is a festival held the third weekend of July in London, Ontario. The festival is an admission by donation festival held in Victoria Park Victoria Park may refer to: Place ...

in London, Ontario the

Vancouver Folk Music Festival The Vancouver Folk Music Festival (VFMF), founded in 1978, is an outdoor multistage music festival, located at Jericho Beach Park on the west side of Vancouver, British Columbia. It takes place annually, on the third weekend of July. The fes ...

and the Coffee House at the Coming Home to Brookfield annual celebration, in

Brookfield, Nova Scotia Brookfield (2021 population: 439) is a Canadian rural community located in southern Colchester County, Nova Scotia, Canada. Brookfield is a growing community in the heart of Nova Scotia, just forty minutes from the provincial capital of Halif ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:MacNeill, Robbie Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Musicians from Halifax, Nova Scotia Canadian guitarists Canadian male singer-songwriters Canadian singer-songwriters