Blind musicians open up on challenges in Scottish radio series
Sally Clay, Scotland’s first blind theatre musical director, still bristles with anger when she remembers how, ready for a night out clubbing with colleagues, she was turned away by bouncers at a venue in Dundee because her cane was “too dangerous”.
But rather than let the incident define her, Clay’s story of overcoming adversity, discrimination and unemployment and making it in the music business can be heard on ‘Blind Notes’ – a seven-part series of radio interviews featuring blind musicians from around the world.
The line-up, which features genres of music from jazz to pop and classical, includes Robin Millar CBE, the multiinstrumentalist and record producer who has 140 gold and platinum discs to his credit as well as the ten millionselling ‘Diamond Life’ by Sade.
Millar will reveal how he staged a fight with crew while recording in France to mask his failing eyesight so he could return to the UK to see his wife.
Andrea Begley, Irish winner of ‘The Voice UK’ in 2013, tells how she turned up late for the life-changing audition and Grammy award-winning US jazz pianist and singer Diane Schuur also features.
Schuur describes how she moved soul legend Stevie Wonder to tears with her rendition of ‘I Just Called To Say I Love You’ at the Kennedy Honours tribute.
The hour-long conversations begin on Wednesday at 6pm on award-winning RNIB Connect Radio, Europe’s first radio station for people with sight loss, based in Partick, Glasgow.
The Royal National Institute for Blind People Scotland, the sight loss charity, say the interviews showcase the resilience and perseverance of musicians who have found success.
Clay, 41, originally from London, who sings and plays piano, said: “I never, ever got a letter of apology from the night club. But I did speak out about it because I didn’t want it happening to someone blind and younger than me who might lose their confidence and never go out again.”
Presenter Ravi Sagoo, who has the eye condition keratoconus causing blurred vision, said: “It’s difficult enough to break through in the music industry and I wanted to explore the challenges facing blind musicians and see how they had conquered the industry.”