Ewen Vernal (born 27 February 1964) is a Scottish musician.
Born in Glasgow to a musical family, Vernal began taking piano lessons at 8 years old — inspired by a
Beatles-singing mother and a choir-leading,
saxophone
The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...
-playing father. Singing competitions and local
talent contest
A talent show is an event in which participants perform the arts of singing, dancing, lip-syncing, acting, martial arts, playing an instrument, poetry, comedy or other activities to showcase skills. Many talent shows are performances rather t ...
s followed, but it was not until his
teenage years that the bass guitar became the focus of his musical aspirations. Discovering an old guitar in the family loft with only a single low E-string left, he started to pick out bass-lines from favourite
records
A record, recording or records may refer to:
An item or collection of data Computing
* Record (computer science), a data structure
** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity
** Boot sector or boot record, r ...
, finally graduating to the real thing at 16 years old.
From the early 1980s, Vernal began playing in a variety of Glasgow-based bands and some jazz residencies throughout Scotland until, after some persuasion from their drummer, joined newly signed
Deacon Blue
Deacon Blue are a Scottish pop rock band formed in Glasgow during 1985. The line-up of the band consists of vocalists Ricky Ross and Lorraine McIntosh, keyboard player James Prime and drummer Dougie Vipond. The band released their debut albu ...
in the autumn of 1986
—until 1994, the band enjoyed worldwide success. In 1997 Vernal joined
Capercaillie, of which he is still a member.
He has appeared with the Scottish
progressive rock
Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. In ...
singer
Fish
Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of ...
, English folk star
Kate Rusby
Kate Anna Rusby (born 4 December 1973) is an English folk singer-songwriter from Penistone, West Riding of Yorkshire, England. Sometimes called the "Barnsley Nightingale", she has headlined various British folk festivals, and is one of the be ...
,
Hue and Cry
In common law, a hue and cry is a process by which bystanders are summoned to assist in the apprehension of a criminal who has been witnessed in the act of committing a crime.
History
By the Statute of Winchester of 1285, 13 Edw. I statute 2. c ...
,
Lou Reed,
Michael Brecker
Michael Leonard Brecker (March 29, 1949 – January 13, 2007) was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. He was awarded 15 Grammy Awards as both performer and composer. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Berklee College of M ...
,
Chris Rea
Christopher Anton Rea ( ; born 4 March 1951) is an English rock and blues singer and guitarist from Middlesbrough. A "gravel-voiced guitar stalwart" known for his slide guitar playing, Rea has recorded twenty five solo albums, two of which t ...
, and many more.
He lives in the Netherlands with his Dutch girlfriend and has three children.
References
External links
Ewan Vernal official website
1964 births
Living people
Scottish pop musicians
Scottish bass guitarists
Musicians from Glasgow
Scottish expatriates in the Netherlands
Capercaillie (band) members
Deacon Blue members
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