Gordon Duncan was a bagpiper and composer, born in Turriff, Aberdeenshire.
Background
Duncan was born in Turriff on 14 May 1964 to tenant farmer Jock Duncan, well known as a bothy ballad singer, and his wife Frances. Initially taught by his father, he began his piping career at the age of 10, winning many junior competitions under the tuition of Walter Drysdale, but started to lose interest in competition piping by the age of 18, at which point he was an apprentice joiner.
Career
Soon after Gordon"s birth, Jock joined the North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board and moved to Pitlochry after a brief spell in Thurso. He attracted attention from folk bands, touring the United States and Europe with the Tannahill Weavers, Wolfstone and Ceolbeg and became associated with Dougie MacLean, playing low whistle on his albums. He began composing soon afterwards, having travelled across Europe and been exposed to other traditions, especially Breton music
He also performed with the Vale of Atholl Pipe Band and the Atholl Highlanders, as well as being signed by Greentrax as a solo artist.
Duncan created a new style of idiosyncratic bagpipe music He also incorporated the bagpipes into a rendition of Air Corps/District of Columbia"s Thunderstruck.
He worked as a refuse collector and was known to scribble compositions on cigarette packets whilst at work. Since 2007 an annual A National Treasure concert has been staged in Perth by the Gordon Duncan Memorial Trust, with the British Broadcasting Corporation airing the 2011 concert.