Tam Reid

Tam reid was crowned "The Bothy Ballad King" in The Haughs of Turriff, a title which remained with him from that day in 1977 until his untimely death early in 2003. A crowd of more than ten thousand watched as Tam received his crown, which must be a world record for a Bothy Ballad Contest. There were around thirty competitors, each singing two songs and Tam's choice was "The Muckle Gauket Gype", one of his favourites, and another that he had recently started singing "The Buchan Vet". Apart from the great honour of winning the contest and taking home the crown there was also the added bonus of receiving the first prize money of £500 and a recording contract.