Pete Wishart: Bruce Guthro's talent and warmth keeps him in our hearts

Bruce Guthro was one of these people. He was also an exceptional singer, musician and songwriter who rose above the petty concerns of a self-obsessed music industry.

In a business where ego and pretension are almost a by-product, Bruce pursued his music with a positivity and purpose, winning people over with a warmth and empathy that was impossible to resist.  

Bruce was an international figure, but jealously and proudly local. His upbringing in the mining town of Sydney Mines on Cape Breton Island defined him and prepared him for the star that he would become.

Bruce could only ever have come from Cape Breton. It was a community that was a unique cultural blend of French, Acadian, Irish and of course Gaelic – all of which Bruce hoovered up and added to his musical armoury.

Ceilidhs and sessions were a common feature of community life and acts such as the Barra MacNeils and the Rankin Family were known to Celtic music lovers all over the world.

When Bruce joined Runrig it was simultaneously irrelevant and supremely important that he was from Cape Breton.

READ MORE: Runrig singer Bruce Guthro dies aged 62, former bandmate announces

Bruce, the Nova Scotian, in joining Runrig, united the international wing of the Gaelic family with the mothership. It could only ever work.

Bruce was a huge figure in the maritime music scene. He was an ever-present at the Celtic Colours and the Stan Rogers Folk Festivals.

His songwriters' circle became the stuff of legends, providing Bruce with an amazing opportunity to guide his listeners through the love of songwriting. Bruce loved his native Nova Scotia and the people of that windswept maritime province loved him back.

In 1998, Runrig needed Bruce Guthro more than Bruce Guthro needed Runrig.

Bruce was an established successful solo act with his own albums and countless awards. He had a major record deal whilst we had none.

His album Of Your Son released that year was destined to turn gold, giving Bruce a couple of Canadian hit singles. Bruce was an artist on the rise, securing rave reviews across the maritimes and the rest of Canada.

Meanwhile we were a band without a lead singer and the press predicting our imminent demise. We had just been through a fruitless and frustrating quest to find a new singer and things were starting to just get a little bit desperate.

The first meeting

It was our manager’s son who first heard Bruce sing whilst out husky sledding in the Canadian outback. Marlene Ross immediately got in touch with Bruce's management and an audition was hastily arranged.

The first time I met Bruce Guthro was on the day that Scotland played Brazil in the 1998 World Cup.

READ MORE: Tributes flood in for former Runrig lead singer Bruce Guthro

We were halway through recording our album In Search of Angels and we had erected a large screen in Cava studios in Glasgow so we wouldn’t miss a kick of the ball.

That fateful day in the Park de Princes was the only day Bruce could make an audition and, as you would expect from a football-daft Scottish rock band, attention was divided. 

When Bruce got to the mic and started to sing, our jaws hit the ground and all thoughts of the Collins penalty and the subsequent Tom Boyd own goal were quickly forgotten.

We knew we had our man and it was as if a huge burden had been lifted. We knew at that point the Runrig story would continue.

Our first gig with Bruce was in the safe environs of the Tonder Festival in Denmark. It was an intimate festival we knew well and had played several times and was run by our friend Carsten Panduro.

It had the added benefit of being far enough away if things went wrong. We needn’t have worried.

After the first few lines of our song The Cutter the audience was in the palm of his hand.

Bruce sang that he had arrived from Canada and it was as if he had been here with us all along. From there, it was over to Scotland and his first encounter with a Scottish audience at the Magnum Centre in Irvine, accompanied by an attendant media circus.

Whilst there may have been some who were waiting for it all to go wrong, it was if the people of Scotland willed it to work. 

There were always going to be the inevitable comparisons with such a huge figure as Donnie Munro, but that debate seemed almost hastily concluded and quickly considered irrelevant.

Runrig fans just wanted the band to go on and keep releasing new material. Bruce also brought a new energy and dynamism to the live performance.

He was a natural frontman and entertainer and his instinctive charm seemed to infect an audience that always seemed like an extra member of the band.

READ MORE: Runrig documentary There Must Be A Place offers insight into legendary band

The musicality of the band for some reason improved and, if anything, the new albums seemed to get better and more cohesive. After leaving the band I got the unusual pleasure of observing Runrig live and it was always Bruce you watched, observing a master of stagecraft at work. 

With Bruce at the helm, Runrig regained a new impetus and, if anything, became even bigger in Europe – particularly in Germany and Denmark where hit albums continued to be racked up.

In Scotland, the spectacular shows continued at castles and stadiums and new audiences were introduced to the band.

Bruce's unique sparkle lasted to the end 

Runrig finally concluded its 45-year career with two huge sell-out shows at Stirling Castle in 2018. Bruce had been a member for almost half that time.

We all knew Bruce was unwell and when he released a video performance accompanied by his children, Dylan and Jodi, announcing he couldn’t make his beloved Stanfest, we knew there wasn’t much time left.

Even being gravely ill, Bruce still had that unique sparkle as he asked his audience to give him an “amen”.

Bruce Guthro leaves behind a fantastic legacy of work. He had an almost unique musical career fronting one of Scotland’s top bands, whilst maintaining a successful solo career in Canada. If you haven’t heard any of Bruce's solo albums, check them out. Particularly, Of your Son and Guthro.

But we will remember the man – the husband, the father, the friend and the bandmate, taken far too soon. We will all miss him dearly.