Silly Wizard
This Scottish band was formed in 1972 by Gordon Jones (b. 21 November 1947, Birkenhead, Liverpool, England; guitar/mandolin), Bob Thomas (b. 28 July 1950, Robroyston, Glasgow, Scotland; guitar), and Chris Pritchard (b. Edinburgh, Scotland; vocals). Pritchard left within a matter of months and was replaced by John Cunningham (b. 27 August 1957, Edinburgh, Scotland; fiddle/mandolin), and Madelaine Taylor (b. Perth, Scotland; vocals/guitar/bodhran/spoons). This line-up recorded for Transatlantic Records, but with Taylor's departure, to join Witches Promise, the recording was never issued. Silly Wizard continued with this line-up until late 1974, when Neil Adams (b. England; bass) joined the group. Andy M. Stewart (vocals/banjo), then joined, and shortly afterwards, Adams left. The four were then augmented by Freeland Barbour (accordion), and Alasdair Donaldson (bass). By the time of SILLY WIZARD, Donaldson had left to join the Rezillos, while Barbour had taken up with the Wallochmore Ceilidh Band. Phil Cunningham (b. 27 January 1960, Edinburgh, Scotland; keyboards), and Martin Mame Hadden (b. 23 May 1957, Aberdeen, Scotland; bass/vocals) arrived in late 1976, recording CALEDONIA'S HARDY SONS. Following the release of SO MANY PARTINGS, John Cunningham joined the US-based group Raindogs, but performed occasionally solo, and with brother Phil. Dougie MacLean (b. 27 September 1954, Dunblane, Scotland; guitar/fiddle/vocals), then joined the line-up temporarily, in 1979. He, along with Stewart and Hadden, had previously been with the group Puddock's Well. Phil had earlier won several Scottish accordion championships, and, in 1977, both he and John received the Heretic Award for services to Scottish Tradition. In 1980, the group recorded Take The High Road, the original theme from the Scottish television series. During the early '80s, a bootleg recording, tentatively titled LIVE IN EDINBURGH, was intercepted before it could be released, and the ensuing court case, being the first bootleg recording case in Scottish history, saw the group win the right for it to remain unreleased. The group helped to popularize Scottish traditional music among a wider audience, particularly in the USA. The final line-up saw all the various members involved in projects outside of the group. 
Gordon Jones and Bob Thomas formed Harbourtown Records, Hadden teamed up with Allan Carr and Jane Rothfield to form Hadden Rothfield and Carr, while Stewart started working with Manus Lunny. Meanwhile, Phil went on to work and record with Relativity. Silly Wizard played their last date in 1988, in New York State.