KILLED BY A SILENT KILLER (Part Two)
KEVIN MITCHELL
I first met Kevin Mitchell in Craobh Sheáin Uí Dhubhláin in Bishop Street; I was there to meet with other Gaelic speakers and extend my knowledge of the language. Kevin was there to learn Irish as he had become very interested in things cultural.
He was born in St Columb’s Wells , grew up in Springtown Camp and later Creggan Estate. In the Craobh he met Sean Gallagher who introduced him to Gaelic traditional music, encouraged him to compete at Feis Dhoire and in the prestigious John Player Ballad Competition, a national contest which Kevin won and established a name for himself throughout Ireland.
In 1969, for love and work he moved to Glasgow where he married Ellen, a fine Scots folk singer, and they raised a family. A couple of years later, I took up residence in Edinburgh. Kevin and I both had busy lives and young families which meant that we didn’t meet too often . Adam McNaughton, teacher and folk-singer, got Kevin involved with his group Stramash which toured sporadically across the Central Belt and we met up regularly at those.
Topic Records tried for a long time to coax Kevin into the studio but only succeeded twice but we are grateful that we have some recordings of this outstanding , Irish song interpreter and singer.
Kevin worked as an industrial painter all across Scotland and England. His occupation would undoubtedly have exposed him to asbestos. Three days before Christmas 2021, Kevin died of cancer, linked to asbestos.
*My picture shows Kevin performing at the Star Folk Club in Glasgow in 2019, the last occasion that we met.
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