In the passing of Bill Livingstone yesterday the pipers and drummers of the world lost a fine person, a genius piper and pipe band man - and tradition-bearer - of the very highest order. The Pipers’ & Pipe Band Society of Ontario has also lost one of its greatest members - one of our Life Members — and one of our most impactful contributors.
William Livingstone was a living legend in the world of piping and drumming. As a band leader, solo performer, composer and arranger and trail-blazing thinker in the art form, few equalled the stratospheric height of his collective success. For over 50 years Bill held a significant and impactful presence on the global piping scene.
His piping and overall musical excellence was imbued with blue ribbon influences; these reached back to the 19th century and beyond: his teachers were the best. First his father, Bill senior, then the great Edinburgh-Canadian emigre, John Wilson, he a pupil of Roddie Campbell, a pupil of Sandy Cameron (Sandy taught by his father Donald Cameron [he named for the big 2/4 march composition]; Donald Cameron, in part, taught by Angus Mackay, he taught by his father the great John Mackay who had a pivotal connection to the MacCrimmons as he was taught by John and Donald MacCrimmon); Donald MacLeod, Captain John MacLellan - and - perhaps most notably, John MacFadyen were among the mainstays of his connection to sound piping excellence.
In tandem with his prodigious solo piping career, Bill led a number of iterations of successful premier grade pipe bands, with the most famous being The 78th Fraser Highlanders. He was was the founding Pipe Major of this legendary unit (November 1982), famed for being the first non-Scottish band to win The World Pipe Band Championships (Glasgow, 1987) as well as establishing a new, musically adventurous approach to creating and presenting music. Under his leadership the 78th enjoyed unmatched performance dominance in Ontario from the mid-1980s through to the 2000s.
Under Bill’s leadership the 78th recorded eight recordings of music with the band’s 1987 “Live in Ireland” double- album standing as the biggest selling pure pipe band recording in history. Bill was a key figure in presenting the “Live in Ireland” projects in Glasgow (2016) and Belfast (2017).
His compositions are played wherever pipers gather to play. He published two books of pipe music, three solo recordings, including Volume 9 of “The World’s Greatest Pipers” series (1991) and is one of the few pipers in history to publish an autobiography, in his well-reviewed 2017 book, “Preposterous, Tales to Follow”.
With the loss of Bill Livingstone the world of piping and drumming is diminished. He devoted his life to presenting the music of the Great Highland Bagpipe in the most dynamic, excellent and engaging of ways. In his efforts the music of the bagpipe moved forward, in a genuinely exciting way, down that great carrying stream of tradition, so poetically invoked by Hamish Henderson. The threads and echoes of our forbears, our tradition, further fade with Bill’s passing,
We mourn his passing but celebrate his legacy.
On behalf of members, the board of directors of the PPBSO offer sincere condolences to Bill’s beloved wife, Lillian and all his friends and family at this sad time.
Thank you, Bill Livingstone.
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