Shetland musician and Madonna songwriter to host gigs and workshops

Shetland musician Reuben Quinn is to play a series of free gigs and workshops which will showcase some of Scotland’s best new songwriting talent and feature a songwriter who has helped pen hits for Madonna, among others.

Mr Quinn, best known as singer with Glasgow based outfit Oscar Charlie, will headline the Shetland gig of the short tour, which is also playing in Ardgour and Inverness.

Funded by Creative Scotland’s Youth Music Initiative, the short tour includes daytime workshops followed by evening gigs, and is being lead by successful songwriter and performer Ciaran Gribbin, aka Joe Echo.

Joe Echo has been involved in numerous successful writing projects and his work has featured on several successful films and TV shows such as Home and Away.

Most recently he received a Grammy nomination for the Madonna hit Celebration which he co-wrote with Paul Oakenfold.

The tour is designed to provide young musicians with the opportunity to gain experience of the music industry.

The daytime workshops, which are open to all, will feature group and one to one work on singing and songwriting techniques, and an informal talk from Joe Echo about his experience in the music industry.

The YMI tour will be in Shetland on Saturday at the Norscot Angling Club. The workshop starts at 2pm, while the gig begins at 7pm. Both events are free.

Shetland Arts music development officer Bryan Peterson said: “The workshops are an excellent opportunity for local songwriters to meet a top flight songwriter, while the evening concert will give a Shetland audience the chance to hear some fantastic up and coming songwriting talent. Reuben Quinn’s solo material is brilliant, he is a natural showman.”