Karen Matheson OBE (born 11 February 1963) is a Scottish folk singer who frequently sings in

Gaelic Gaelic is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". As a noun it refers to the group of languages spoken by the Gaels, or to any one of the languages individually. Gaelic languages are spoken in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, an ...

. She is the lead singer of the group

Capercaillie ''Tetrao'' is a genus of birds in the grouse subfamily known as capercaillies. They are some of the largest living grouse. Taxonomy The genus ''Tetrao'' was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of hi ...

and was a member of

Dan Ar Braz Dan Ar Braz (; born Daniel Le Bras on 15 January 1949 in Quimper) is a Breton guitarist-singer-composer and the founder of L'Héritage des Celtes, a 50-piece Pan-Celt band. Leading guitarist in Celtic music, Dan Ar Braz has recorded as a solo ...

's group L'Héritage des Celtes, with whom she often sang lead vocals, either alone or with

Elaine Morgan Elaine Morgan OBE, FRSL (7 November 1920 – 12 July 2013), was a Welsh writer for television and the author of several books on evolutionary anthropology. She advocated the aquatic ape hypothesis, which she advocated as a corrective to what ...

. She and Morgan sang together on the

Breton language Breton (, ; or in Morbihan) is a Southwestern Brittonic language of the Celtic language family spoken in Brittany, part of modern-day France. It is the only Celtic language still widely in use on the European mainland, albeit as a member of ...

song "Diwanit Bugale", the French entry in the

Eurovision Song Contest 1996 The Eurovision Song Contest 1996 was the 41st edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, held on 18 May 1996 at the in Oslo, Norway. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster (NRK) and presented by Norwegian journalis ...

. She made a cameo appearance in the 1995 movie '' Rob Roy'' singing the song " Ailein duinn".

Biography

She grew up in the small village of Taynuilt in the region of

Argyll Argyll (; archaically Argyle, in modern Gaelic, ), sometimes called Argyllshire, is a historic county and registration county of western Scotland. Argyll is of ancient origin, and corresponds to most of the part of the ancient kingdom of ...

, western Scotland. She was appointed an OBE in the 2006 New Year's honours list. Matheson also appeared as a guest musician on

Spirit of the West Spirit of the West were a Canadian folk rock band from North Vancouver, active from 1983 to 2016. They were popular on the Canadian folk music scene in the 1980s before evolving a blend of hard rock, Britpop, and Celtic folk influences which ...

's 1997 album ''

Weights and Measures A unit of measurement is a definite magnitude of a quantity, defined and adopted by convention or by law, that is used as a standard for measurement of the same kind of quantity. Any other quantity of that kind can be expressed as a multip ...

''. Matheson performed a solo in Secret Garden's song "Prayer" in the 1999 album ''

Dawn of a New Century ''Dawn of a New Century'' (released 20 April 1999 by Universal Music, Norway – 546 120-2 / Philips) is the third album by Irish-Norwegian duo Secret Garden, released by Philips Records in 1999. Capercaillie's frontwoman Karen Matheson perfo ...

''. She is married to fellow Capercaillie member Donald Shaw, and they have a son. On 2 February 2010, Matheson made an appearance on ''

Celtic Woman 4 ''Celtic Woman 4'' is the fourth release in a compilation series from Valley Entertainment that began in 1998. The album brings songs, both original and traditional, from CDs released in Ireland, Scotland, and England to the United States. It fe ...

,'' then on 16 October 2015, Karen Matheson released her fourth solo album, '' Urram'', on Vertical Records. In support of the new album, Karen Matheson planned 7 shows in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

in December 2015 and January 2016, one show in January in Dublin, Ireland and 5 shows in the UK in February 2016 (as part of the Transatlantic Sessions). On her official web site, Karen Matheson announced in March 2016 that she would embark on an 11-date Spring 2016 UK tour, visiting mainly Scotland, starting on 15 April 2016 in Perth, Scotland and ending on 18 June 2016 in

Kirkcaldy Kirkcaldy ( ; sco, Kirkcaldy; gd, Cair Chaladain) is a town and former royal burgh in Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It is about north of Edinburgh and south-southwest of Dundee. The town had a recorded population of 49,460 in 2011 ...

, Scotland.. Karen Matheson announced on 1 July 2016 that she would perform one show on 19 July 2016 at Ionad Cois Locha,

Dún Lúiche Gweedore ( ; officially known by its Irish language name, ) is an Irish-speaking district and parish located on the Atlantic coast of County Donegal in the north-west of Ireland. Gweedore stretches some from Glasserchoo in the north to Croll ...

, Ireland, together with long-time friends and music partners Donald Shaw and

Manus Lunny Manus Lunny (born 1962) is an Irish producer and multi-instrumentalist from County Donegal, Ireland, best known as a member of Celtic supergroup Capercaillie. He is the brother of multi-instrumentalist and producer Dónal Lunny.Capercaillie ''Tetrao'' is a genus of birds in the grouse subfamily known as capercaillies. They are some of the largest living grouse. Taxonomy The genus ''Tetrao'' was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of hi ...

), during the Trad Trathnona ("Trad Afternoon"),

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ga, Contae Dhún na nGall) is a county of Ireland in the province of Ulster and in the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Donegal in the south of the county. It has also been known as County Tyrcon ...

's Summer of traditional Sessions (to occur each Tuesday in July & August). After performing two shows on 26 & 28 August 2016 at the

Shrewsbury Folk Festival Shrewsbury Folk Festival is an annual festival of folk and world music and traditional dance held in the town of Shrewsbury in Shropshire, England. It takes place over four days on and around the UK Late Summer bank holiday weekend (usually th ...

, Karen Matheson would embark on a 9-date Autumn 2016 UK tour due to start on 15 September at the Beacon Arts Centre in

Greenock Greenock (; sco, Greenock; gd, Grianaig, ) is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council area in Scotland, United Kingdom and a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, located in the west central Lowland ...

, UK and to end on 29 September at

Bush Hall Bush Hall is located at 310 Uxbridge Road, Shepherd's Bush, West London, England. Originally a dance hall, it is now an independent music venue with a capacity of 400. Bush Hall was built in 1904. It was used as a soup kitchen during World Wa ...

in London, UK. On 12 February 2021, Karen Matheson released her fifth solo album. On 12th September 2022, Karen Matheson sang a Gaelic psalm at the Service of Thanksgiving for the late Queen Elizabeth II, at St. Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh, which was attended by HM King Charles III and other members of the Royal Family. The Queen’s coffin lay in state at the cathedral during the service and until 5 pm the following day.

Solo discography

* ''

The Dreaming Sea ''The Dreaming Sea'' is the debut solo studio album by Karen Matheson, lead singer of the Scottish band Capercaillie. The album was released in 1996 by Survival Records and reissued in North America by Valley Entertainment Valley Entertainm ...

'' (1996) * '' Time to Fall'' (2002) * '' Downriver'' (2005) * '' Urram'' (2015) * '' Still Time'' (2021)

Notes

References

External links

Karen Matheson's website

BBC report of 2006 honours list, including Matheson's OBE
{{DEFAULTSORT:Matheson, Karen 1963 births Living people Officers of the Order of the British Empire Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 1996 Eurovision Song Contest entrants for France 21st-century Scottish women singers Scottish folk musicians People from Taynuilt Scottish Gaelic singers Capercaillie (band) members Vertical Records artists 20th-century Scottish women singers