Bill's Biography

As a band leader, solo performer, composer and arranger and trail-blazing thinker in the art form,

few have equalled the stratospheric height of his collective success.

William "Bill" Livingstone is a living legend in the world of piping. As a band leader, solo performer, composer and arranger and trail-blazing thinker in the art form, few have equalled the stratospheric height of his collective success. For over 50 years Bill has had a significant and impactful presence on the global piping scene.

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Like so many before him, Bill’s first bagpipe lessons began with his father, Bill, Senior, an immigrant from the coalfields of East Ayrshire, Scotland. From those early years in the northern Ontario mining town of Coppercliff - around the ages of 4 to 17 - Bill did all he could to become his best, this included a period of about three months with the great and storied Edinburgh emigre piper, John Wilson. Yet, it was the common time siren call of rock and roll - and rhythm and blues, more specifically - that put a stop to his pursuit of excellence in the music his family loved so well. A youthful Bill joined a rock and roll band.

Still, he managed to make his way through university and law school and came through all of that as a young happily married man of 27 years: ready, again, to take up the Great Highland Bagpipe. It was at this time that he rejuvenated his tuition with John Wilson and embraced the music, especially piobaireachd - or ceol mor, Scots Gaelic for “big music” - the often-called “classical music” of the Scottish Highland bagpipe. 

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In addition to that received from John Wilson, Bill received extensive tuition and coaching from some of the art form’s leading lights through his formative piping years. Donald MacLeod, Captain John MacLellan and Andrew MacNeill of Colonsay were notable among these maestros with, John MacFadyen, the bold, forthright artiste and piobaireachd decoder and interpreter having the biggest impact on his understanding of the music.

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Bill’s commitment to supporting the Scottish solo piping scene began on his first trip to compete in 1972. Remarkably, only two years later, he won the March, the Strathspey & Reel and the Jig events at the Northern Meeting, Inverness. At the same 1974 event, he would be placed second in the Gold Medal piobaireachd contest. This prize was famously withdrawn the day after the presentation (a concealed tape recorder enabled evidence to be reviewed by the judges that a note error was made - see Bill’s 2017 memoir, “Preposterous, Tales to Follow”, for details of what proved to be a fascinating moment in piping history). 

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From the mid-1970s on Bill proved a formidable presence on the world's premier competition platforms.

Prizes include:

1973 - The Open Piobaireachd (North American Championships, Maxville, ON)

1974 - The Open Piobaireachd (North American Championships, Maxville, ON)

1977 - The Gold Medal for piobaireachd (The Northern Meeting, Inverness)

1977 - March (The Argyllshire Gathering, Oban)

1978 - Strathspey & Reel (The Argyllshire Gathering, Oban)

1978 - The Piobaireachd Society (Canada) Gold Medal for Piobaireachd

1979 - The Piobaireachd Society (Canada) Gold Medal for Piobaireachd

1979 - The Gold Medal for Piobaireachd The Argyllshire Gathering, Oban)

1981 - The Gold Clasp to The Gold Medal (The Northern Meeting, Inverness)

1981 - The Open Piobaireachd (North American Championships, Maxville, ON)

1981 - The Piobaireachd Society (Canada) Gold Medal for Piobaireachd

1982 - Bar to The Piobaireachd Society (Canada) Gold Medal (former winners)

1984 - The Gold Clasp to The Gold Medal (The Northern Meeting, Inverness)

N.B. Bill placed second in the Gold Clasp event at Inverness seven times

1983 - Bar to The Piobaireachd Society (Canada) Gold Medal (former winners)

1984 - Bar to The Piobaireachd Society (Canada) Gold Medal (former winners)

1985 - Bar to The Piobaireachd Society (Canada) Gold Medal (former winners)

1986 - Bar to The Piobaireachd Society (Canada) Gold Medal (former winners)

1987 - The Open Piobaireachd (North American Championships, Maxville, ON)

1988 - The Open Piobaireachd (North American Championships, Maxville, ON)

1989 - The Open Piobaireachd (North American Championships, Maxville, ON)

1990 - Bar to The Piobaireachd Society (Canada) Gold Medal (former winners)

1991 - Bar to The Piobaireachd Society (Canada) Gold Medal (former winners)

1992 - The Open Piobaireachd (North American Championships, Maxville, ON)

1993 - The Open Piobaireachd (North American Championships, Maxville, ON)

1994 - The Open Piobaireachd (North American Championships, Maxville, ON)

1996 - Bar to The Piobaireachd Society (Canada) Gold Medal (former winners)

1997 - The Open Piobaireachd (North American Championships, Maxville, ON)

1997 - Bar to The Piobaireachd Society (Canada) Gold Medal (former winners)

1998 - The Open Piobaireachd (North American Championships, Maxville, ON)

1998 - Bar to The Piobaireachd Society (Canada) Gold Medal (former winners)

1999 - Bar to The Piobaireachd Society (Canada) Gold Medal (former winners)

2000 - Bar to The Piobaireachd Society (Canada) Gold Medal (former winners)

2001 - Bar to The Piobaireachd Society (Canada) Gold Medal (former winners)

2002 - First prize, piobaireachd at the Glenfiddich Championships (aged 60)

In tandem with his prodigious solo piping career, Bill led several iterations of successful premier-grade pipe bands, with the most famous being the 78th Fraser Highlanders. He was the founding Pipe Major of this legendary unit (November 1981), famed for being the first non-Scottish band to win The World Pipe Band Championships (Glasgow, 1987) as well as establishing a new, musically adventurous approach to creating and presenting music. Under his leadership, the 78th enjoyed unmatched performance dominance in Ontario from the mid-1980s through to the 2000s.

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Under Bill’s leadership the 78th recorded eight recordings of music with the band’s 1987 “Live in Ireland” double-album standing as the biggest-selling pure pipe band recording in history. Bill was a key figure in presenting the “Live in Ireland” projects in Glasgow (2016) and Belfast (2017). 

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His compositions are played wherever pipers gather to play. He has published two books of pipe music, and three solo recordings, including Volume 9 of “The World’s Greatest Pipers” series (1991). He is one of the few pipers in history to publish an autobiography, his well-reviewed 2017 book, “Preposterous, Tales to Follow”. 

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Now retired from his law practice, Bill lives in Whitby with his beloved wife, Lillian and their tearaway cats, Calvin and Kenneth. He is an active and devoted teacher and has had a hand in forming a string of established pipers that include, Michael Grey, Andrew Hayes, Ian K MacDonald, Sean McKeown, Bruce Gandy and Alistair Murray. Bill is a well-travelled adjudicator and continues to play the big music as the mood strikes.