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Gilbert Gray (1909 - 1989) born in Vaylie, Norwick Unst

Extract from The Fiddle Tradition of the Shetland Isles, written by Peter Cooke who interviewed and recorded Gibby in the 1970's:

Gibbie, as he is affectionately known, had too small a croft to be able to support him and consequently spent most of his life at sea. At the age of fourteen he worked at inshore halibut fishing in fourareens - and when this fishing failed he joined the merchant service and travelled around the world.

He lost his best fiddle when he was torpedoed while serving on The Highlander in World War II.

On D-Day his vessel was blown up by a mine just outside Aberdeen. There were fourteen Shetlanders amongst the crew and five were lost.

When war ended he worked for a time in salvage operations in England for five years before again trying his luck at fishing, this time for herring on board a seine-netter based on Burra Isle. After that he worked until retirement at the RAF camp in Unst and spent his spare time fishing for lobsters around the entrance to Baltasound.

He learned his fiddling from his father, who also played, and from his mother who was among the few Shetland women who played the fiddle. If for most of his working life he was away from Unst, he nevertheless preserved a distinct Unst style from his boyhood days.

His father played with his fiddle held low on his left arm but in 'just the same' style as his son, although whilst Gibbie was used to being accompanied by a piano, his father never played to accompaniments.