Kenny McGinty

Born in Edinburgh, Kenny had a keen interest in music from a young age. His parents Bob and Betty were keen ballroom dancers, his grandfather played the Scottish fiddle and his aunt and uncle were proficient classical pianists. Although his relatives had ceased to play their instruments by the time Kenny was born, they were still a great influence in his early musical development.

Kenny learned to play the clarinet and oboe at school before taking up the piano accordion at the age of 12 years. His parents noticed his talent and were keen to nurture it even though at that time private tuition was expensive; they had three sons and a daughter to support and lived on a modest income. Kenny was taught the accordion in Edinburgh firstly by Chrissie Letham, an accordion tutor respected throughout the UK who had taught many of the leading accordion dance band leaders in Scotland and later by her son, Owen Murray who is now the Professor of Accordion at the Royal Academy of Music in London.

Kenny took to the accordion like a duck to water, with a great deal of commitment as well as patience and support from his parents, brothers and sister he was soon winning accordion championships within Scotland. Within two years of taking up the instrument he was asked to perform solo with the BBC Radio Orchestra. Over the school summer break each year he played the accordion in an open air Scottish variety show, twice daily in Princes Street Gardens in Edinburgh.

After leaving school, he worked at Gordon Simpson's Music as a salesman promoting and demonstrating their extensive range of Piano Accordions. In the evenings when not playing to tourists in the various hotels in Edinburgh, he taught the accordion privately to young hopefuls. At the age of 16 he decided to leave home and move to the peaceful tranquility of Ullapool in the North of Scotland having been offered financial support from a sponsor to dedicate himself to full time musical study.

He returned to Edinburgh a year or so later having gained a great deal of musical knowledge and invaluable study. Later that year he was asked to join the cast of 'A Taste of Scotland', a Scottish variety show at the Hotel Oratava in the centre of Edinburgh. The cast included Grant Frazer, known throughout Scotland, Canada and the US as 'The Romantic Voice of Scotland'; Alex Shaw, a Jazz pianist famous throughout the UK, who sadly passed away recently; John Ramage, compere and highland dancer, and Jimmy Leslie, singer, musician and comedian who Kenny still works with on a nightly basis to this day.

Grant Frazer was a well known performer on television with numerous appearances on the Scottish Network and it was with his help and support that Kenny featured on the various Scottish television variety shows over the next few years as well as touring with him in the USA.

In 1981 Colin Stuart, a well known Scottish baritone vocalist who previously worked with the likes of the comedian Lex Maclean, replaced Grant Frazer and joined the show as singer / producer. Three years later the show moved from the Hotel Oratava to the Historic Prestonfield House, where it still runs six nights a week, playing to around fifty thousand tourists over a twenty eight week period each year.

Kenny has toured Canada with Andy Stewart as part of the infamous 'White Heather Show', throughout the USA with Grant Frazer and with Colin Stuart throughout Europe. He has also toured the Gulf Region just prior to the outbreak of the Gulf War, where he was sponsored by British Airways to entertain our British Troops.