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Ronnie Browne | |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Ronald Grant Browne |
| Born | 20 August 1937 Edinburgh, Scotland |
| Genres | Scottish folk |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, songwriter, portrait artist |
| Instrument(s) | Guitar, mandolin, bodhrán, harmonica, tin whistle, banjo, kazoo |
| Years active | 1960s–2002, 2007–2015 |
| Labels | Scotdisc |
| Website | corries |
Ronald Grant Browne (born 20 August 1937), known as The Voice, is a Scottish musician and songwriter, who is a founding member of The Corries.
Browne was born in Edinburgh to John Albert 'Bertie' Browne, a truck driver, and Anne 'Nancy' Browne. He was raised in Scotland. Aside from singing, Browne's other abilities are painting, sketching and rugby, having once played as a winger for his secondary school Boroughmuir. He met Roy Williamson on the rugby field, as Williamson had played as a winger for Boroughmuir's rivals Edinburgh Wanderers.
This led to meeting multi-instrumentalist Bill Smith at Edinburgh College of Art in 1955 and the formation of the Corrie Folk Trio in 1962. The group was expanded the following year with the addition of female singer Paddie Bell. Shortly after releasing three albums in 1965, Bell left to begin a solo career. With the departure of Smith, the following year, Browne and Williamson continued to perform as a duo now known as The Corries. [1]
In 1970, Williamson conceived and built the band's signature instrument: the combolins, a pair of instruments that were rarely played separately. Williamson's instrument featured a basic guitar fingerboard with a bandurria attached and sympathetic resonating strings. Browne's model was a basic guitar with a mandolin attached and four bass strings.
Browne and Williamson were regular performers on Scottish television shows and movies and in 1983 received an International Film and Television Festival gold award for their Scottish Television series, "The Corries & Other Folk". The 1996 film The Bruce features Browne's rendition of the Williamson-penned Flower of Scotland at the end. Browne appeared in the film playing the role of Maxwell The Minstrel.
Since Williamson's death in 1990, Browne continued to perform and record in the spirit of the Corries. He regularly led the singing of Flower of Scotland, de facto national anthem of Scotland, for the Scotland national rugby and football teams. During his performances, he was known to yell "COME ON!" to the audience during the opening line of the song he was singing and this has often been parodied by the BBC Hogmanay sketch show Only an Excuse? . As of 27 April 2015, Browne announced that due to emotional breakdowns during performances, he has put an end to singing in public.
Browne is now an accomplished portrait artist.
Browne met and fell in love with Patricia Elliott during secondary school, and the two married on 30 June 1959. Together they had three children.
Gavin Browne is the eldest, and has run The Corries Official Website since 1997.
Ronnie and Pat were married for 53 years until Pat died from cancer in 2012.
"Flower of Scotland" is a Scottish patriotic song commonly used as an unofficial national anthem of Scotland. Written sometime in the mid-1960s by folk musician Roy Williamson, its lyrics describe the victory of Robert the Bruce, King of Scots, over Edward II, King of England, at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. Owing to its historical basis in the Wars of Scottish independence, the song urges contemporary Scots to rise again as an independent nation and remember the day their ancestors deterred Edward's English invaders. Notable for its association with supporters of the Scottish national football team and Scottish national rugby union team, "Flower of Scotland" is one of the most popular sporting anthems in Europe.
Scotland is internationally known for its traditional music, often known as Scottish folk music, which remained vibrant throughout the 20th century and into the 21st when many traditional forms worldwide lost popularity to pop music. Traditional Scottish music comprises a variety of different styles such as ballads, reels, jigs and airs. Traditional Scottish music is closely associated with the bagpipes which is credited as having a prominent role in traditional music originating from the country. The bagpipes are considered to an "iconic Scottish instrument" with a history dating back to the 15th century. Other notable Scottish instruments include the tin whistle, the accordion and the fiddle.
The Corries were a Scottish folk group that emerged from the Scottish folk revival of the early 1960s. The group was a trio from their formation until 1966 when founder Bill Smith left the band but Roy Williamson and Ronnie Browne continued as a duo until Williamson's death in 1990.
Roy Murdoch Buchanan Williamson was a Scottish songwriter and folk musician, most notably with The Corries. Williamson is best known for writing "Flower of Scotland", which has become the de facto national anthem of Scotland used at international sporting events.
The bandurria is a plucked chordophone from Spain, similar to the mandolin and bandola, primarily used in Spanish folk music, but also found in former Spanish colonies.
Boroughmuir RFC is a rugby union club in the Scottish Rugby Union. The club's home ground is Meggetland, in southwest Edinburgh and the club plays in the Super 6, where they are known as the Boroughmuir Bears.
Peat Fire Flame is an album recorded in 1977 by The Corries, a Scottish folk group. The combolin is heard to advantage on "Come By the Hills". Williamson and Ronnie Browne are heard on the vocals. There is multi-tracking to include both men on guitars, Northumbrian pipes, harmonicas, whistles, flutes, concertina, mandolins, boranns, fiddle and combolins. The last four tracks are designed to be heard as one continuous track. Running time: 38 minutes 13 seconds.
Bruce Langhorne was an American folk musician. He was active in the Greenwich Village folk scene in the 1960s, primarily as a session guitarist for folk albums and performances.
There is currently no agreed national anthem of Scotland. In sporting events and significant national situations, songs are used as de facto Scottish national anthems, most notably "Flower of Scotland" and "Scotland the Brave". The Scottish Government has not formally adopted an official national anthem of Scotland, and said in 2015 that it had "no current plans in this regard" to formally adopt a national anthem of Scotland.
The Corrie Folk Trio and Paddie Bell is the eponymous 1964 album by The Corrie Folk Trio and Paddie Bell.
The Promise of the Day is a music album by the band The Corrie Folk Trio and Paddie Bell. The album was produced in 1965 for the Scottish label Waverley Records. It was issued by the American label Elektra Records in 1966.
Liberton High School is a secondary school in Liberton, in the south of Edinburgh, Scotland, which is located on Gilmerton Road. The school roll for the 2022–23 academic year was 846.
Boroughmuir High School is a non-denominational secondary school in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Bruce Hamilton Hay was a Scotland international rugby union player.
The Combolin was invented by Roy Williamson of The Corries in the summer of 1969. The combolin combined several instruments into a single instrument. One combined a mandolin and a guitar, the other combined guitar and the Spanish bandurria, the latter being an instrument Williamson had played since the early days of the Corrie Folk Trio.
"Roses of Prince Charlie" is a modern Scottish folk song composed by Ronnie Browne of The Corries. It was written circa 1973 and first appeared in their album released in 1974, Live From Scotland Volume 1. The title of the song refers to the symbol of Charles Edward Stuart, which was a white rose. The words represent Jacobitism and modern Scottish Nationalism.
Live from Scotland Volume 1 was a 1974 album by The Corries recorded at the Glasgow City Halls.
The Scotland national Club XV rugby union team is one of several national rugby union teams behind the Scottish national side.
The 1974–75 Scottish Inter-District Championship was a rugby union competition for Scotland's district teams.
Sam Yawayawa is a Fijian born Scottish rugby union player who plays for London Scottish. He was previously at Glasgow Warriors, Leicester Tigers, Boroughmuir and Glasgow Hawks. His usual position is at the Wing position.
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