The Cottars are a Canadian Celtic musical group from

Cape Breton Island Cape Breton Island (french: link=no, île du Cap-Breton, formerly '; gd, Ceap Breatainn or '; mic, Unamaꞌki) is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America and part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. The island accounts for 18. ...

formed in 2000. The group's current members are Ciarán MacGillivray, Fiona MacGillivray, Bruce Timmins, and Claire Pettit.

History

The Cottars were founded in late 2000 when two sets of siblings, Ciarán MacGillivray and Fiona MacGillivray of

Albert Bridge, Nova Scotia Albert Bridge (2001 pop.: 159) is a Canadian rural community in Nova Scotia's Cape Breton Regional Municipality. Situated on the Mira River (Nova Scotia), Mira River, the community was previously named Mira Ferry for the location of a small ferry ...

, joined with Rosie MacKenzie (then age 11) and Jimmy MacKenzie of

Baddeck, Nova Scotia Baddeck () is a village in northeastern Nova Scotia, Canada. It is situated in the centre of Cape Breton, approximately 6 km east of where the Baddeck River empties into Bras d'Or Lake. Local governance is provided by the rural municipality ...

. In 2001, they released their first CD, '' Made In Cape Breton'', on

Warner Music Warner Music Group Corp. ( d.b.a. Warner Music Group, commonly abbreviated as WMG) is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and t ...

. The disc, with their single, a cover of

Tom Waits Thomas Alan Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American musician, composer, songwriter, and actor. His lyrics often focus on the underbelly of society and are delivered in his trademark deep, gravelly voice. He worked primarily in jazz during ...

's "The Briar and the Rose", showcased John McDermott's vocals along with Fiona's in two duets. In 2003, they won the New Group of the Year award at the 2003

East Coast Music Awards The East Coast Music Association is a non-profit association that hosts an annual awards ceremony based in Atlantic Canada for music appreciation on the East Coast of Canada. Its mission is to develop, advance and celebrate East Coast Canadian mus ...

. The members were each individually nominated for a

Gemini Award The Gemini Awards were awards given by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television between 1986–2011 to recognize the achievements of Canada's television industry. The Gemini Awards are analogous to the Emmy Awards given in the United States ...

in the same year in the category of Best Performance or Host in a Variety Program or Series for their performances at the 2003 East Coast Music Awards. In 2004, the Cottars released their second CD, '' On Fire'', for which they won the Best Roots/Traditional Album award at the 2005 East Coast Music Awards. The group's third CD, ''

Forerunner Forerunner may refer to: Religion * A holy person announcing the approaching appearance of a prophet, see precursor (religion). ** As a title, used in particular for John the Baptist within Christianity, and especially within the Eastern Orthodox ...

'', was released on

Rounder Records Rounder Records is an independent record label founded in 1970 in Somerville, Massachusetts by Marian Leighton Levy, Ken Irwin, and Bill Nowlin. Focused on American roots music, Rounder's catalogue of more than 3000 titles includes records by Al ...

in January 2006, and was their first release in the U.S."News 2005"
thecottars.ca; retrieved December 25, 2012. It contained two new

covers; "Georgia Lee" and "Hold On". In January and March 2006, the Cottars went on a tour of the US with

The Chieftains The Chieftains are a traditional Irish folk band formed in Dublin in 1962, by Paddy Moloney, Seán Potts and Michael Tubridy. Their sound, which is almost entirely instrumental and largely built around uilleann pipes, has become synonymous wi ...

which included a performance at

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...

in New York City, where they performed with

Elvis Costello Declan Patrick MacManus Order of the British Empire, OBE (born 25 August 1954), known professionally as Elvis Costello, is an English singer-songwriter and record producer. He has won multiple awards in his career, including a Grammy Award in ...

. In mid-2006, the group announced they would disband, but they continued to perform together until the end of 2006. Some time later, the group started performing again under a new arrangement in which the MacKenzie siblings were replaced with fiddler Claire Pettit and guitarist Bruce Timmins. The band released their fourth CD, ''Feast'', in February 2010 on

, which features the new members, Timmins and Pettit, in addition to the MacGillivray siblings.

Discography

* 2002 - '' Made In Cape Breton'' * 2004 - '' On Fire'' * 2006 - ''

'' * 2010 - ''Feast''

References

External links

The Cottars
at MySpace
The Cottars
at

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Cottars, The Musical groups established in 2000 Musical groups from Nova Scotia Canadian Celtic music groups Canadian folk music groups