1. Michael Marra was a Scottish singer-songwriter and musician from Dundee, Scotland.
19 Facts About Michael Marra
1. 2.
Michael Marra's songwriting was rooted in Scottish life and he found an audience within and beyond the folk music scene, which led to him working as a support musician for performers including Van Morrison, The Proclaimers, Barbara Dickson and Deacon Blue.
3.
Michael Marra was brought up in the Lochee district of Dundee, the son of a printer and a schoolteacher.
4.
Michael Marra played with Skeets Boliver in the mid-1970s, alongside drummer Brian McDermott, saxman Peter McGlone, Gus Foy, Stewart Ivins, and Chris Michael Marra.
5.
Michael Marra created the opera Nan Garland, which was performed at Dundee Rep in 2004.
6.
Three years later, in September 2010, the album Michael Marra, recorded live on tour in 2010 with Mr McFall's Chamber, was released on Delphian Records.
7.
Michael Marra performed original songs with the Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the Scottish National Orchestra, Concerto Caledonia, Mr McFall's Chamber, and his own quintet.
8.
Michael Marra sang duets with Patti Smith, Eddi Reader, Karen Matheson and Karine Polwart.
9.
In 2003 Michael Marra collaborated with Martyn Bennett for his final album Grit, contributing a spoken passage for the song "Liberation".
10.
Michael Marra's songs have been covered by a wide range of artists, including Sylvia Rae Tracey, Coope Boyes and Simpson, Alan Cumming, Leo Sayer and Rab Noakes.
11.
Michael Marra wrote original music and worked both as an actor and musical director in theatre.
12.
Michael Marra wrote and performed in the show In Flagrant Delicht which was written in collaboration with Scottish Makar and playwright Liz Lochhead.
13.
Michael Marra collaborated with Graham McLaren of Theatre Babel on a new production of The Demon Barber for Perth Theatre having previously worked with him on Liz Lochhead's Beauty and The Beast.
14.
Michael Marra proposed his work "Hermless" as an alternative national anthem.
15.
Michael Marra was married to Peggy, and their children, Alice and Matthew, are musicians and members of the Dundee-based group, The Hazey Janes.
16.
Former Labour MSP Jenny Marra and current Labour MSP Michael Marra are his niece and nephew.
17.
Michael Marra died in Ninewells Hospital on 23 October 2012, aged 60, of throat cancer.
18.
In 2007 Michael Marra was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Dundee University in recognition of his contribution to the cultural profile of his home town, and in 2011 he was made an Honorary Doctor of Letters by Glasgow Caledonian University.
19.
Michael Marra won the Herald Angel Award in 2010 for his performance at The Acoustic Music Centre during the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.