Triple Brit Award winner Eddi Reader, trad legends Skerryvore, singer songwriter Willie Campbell, and An Lanntair’s pioneering cultural leader Alex MacDonald are to be honoured for their outstanding contributions to arts and music.

They have been unveiled as the next inductees into the prestigious HebCelt Festival Hall of Fame in recognition of their exceptional impact on the award-winning festival, the Outer Hebrides, and the wider Celtic music scene.

In doing so they will join an illustrious group of past inductees, including Celtic and Gaelic music icons Runrig, Julie Fowlis and the Peatbog Faeries, who were the first to be recognised in 2010.

Eddi Reader has been a trailblazer for Scottish music for 40 years, first hitting the big time with Fairground Attraction and a string of hits including Find My Love and chart topper Perfect, and enjoying a solo career recording 10 albums, including The Songs of Robert Burns. She has also been awarded three Brits, two Ivor Novello’s and an MBE, and acted with Tilda Winton in John Byrne’s Your Cheatin’ Heart, along the way.

Skerryvore are one of Scotland’s most electrifying live acts, fusing traditional Celtic roots with rock, pop and Americana. Formed on Tiree two decades ago, the band has grown from local ceilidhs to performing in over 30 countries and earning a global fanbase. After their anniversary concert at Floors Castle, they will celebrate their 20th year with thousands of fans in Stornoway who named them as the act most wanted to see play the festival this year.

Winners of Scotland’s ‘Live Act of the Year’ on multiple occasions, they also created charity single ‘Everyday Heroes’, which topped the Scottish charts and raised vital funds during the COVID-19 pandemic. With eight albums under their belt, their latest release Tempus hit No.1 on both the Official Scottish and UK Folk Albums Charts, cementing their place at the forefront of contemporary Scottish music.

Willie Campbell first gained prominence in the late 1990s as a co-founder and frontman of the indie guitar-pop band Astrid, and with Snow Patrol's Gary Lightbody and other notable Scottish musicians in the indie collective The Reindeer Section, before a solo career under the moniker The Open Day Rotation. In 2014, he released Dalma, his first album of original Gaelic songs, in collaboration with musician Calum Martin, and composed and recorded the EP Dìleab with Western Isles schoolchildren. More recently, his album Soundtrack to the Life We Leave Behind, won critical acclaim, and he is working on the highly anticipated follow-up to Between the Truth and The Dream with supergroup The Tumbling Souls.

Alex MacDonald is the pioneering and long-standing Head of Performing Arts and Cultural Projects at An Lanntair arts centre, where she has led groundbreaking projects including Hebridean Women and Between Islands, while championing the creative community and cultural identity of the Outer Hebrides. She was also pivotal in the move to the centre’s current ‘lighthouse’ home, and is credited with helping nurture and encourage the careers of countless artists and musicians from the area and beyond.

Festival Operations Co-ordinator Carol Ferguson said: “It is a complete joy to welcome our dear friends Eddi Reader, Skerryvore, Willie Campbell and Alex MacDonald into the HebCelt Festival Hall of Fame - the highest honour we can bestow, recognising their remarkable achievements and steadfast support over the years.

“Eddi has been a trailblazer for Scottish music for decades, celebrated by being awarded an incredible three Brit Awards among her other accolades, reinventing classics and defying convention to deliver original, inspiring and above all much loved songs that have helped shape the sound of Scotland across the years.

“Skerryvore are beloved by HebCelt audiences, consistently one of the most requested acts by our fans, and it is brilliant that they will be celebrating their 20th anniversary with us. Their globetrotting, invention and mastery of the live show is peerless, and they are so deserving of the reception they will undoubtedly receive on the Castle Green.

“Willie Campbell is such a gifted guitarist and extraordinary storyteller. From his fledgling days of working with Astrid to supergroup The Reindeer Section, The Open Day Rotation, and now fans favourites The Tumbling Souls, his music, creativity and performances have brought immense pride to the Hebrides and support to the festival that’s truly immeasurable.

“Words can scarcely do justice to the legacy of Alex MacDonald. Through vision and dedication, she has transformed the cultural landscape of Lewis, fostered careers, strengthened community ties, and championed the incredible talent of these islands. She is simply, and brilliantly, one of a kind.”

Michelle Shields, HebCelt Artist Programmer and Director, added: “Eddi, Willie, Skerryvore and Alex each hold a special place in the hearts of the HebCelt family. Their influence on Celtic, traditional, Scots and Gaelic music has been profound - and even life-changing for so many. Becoming a member of our Hall of Fame is a fitting tribute to their legacy and an absolutely perfect way to celebrate their outstanding contributions.”

Other Hall of Fame members include acclaimed singer-songwriter Dougie MacLean, Capercaillie’s Karen Matheson, Irish star Imelda May, celebrated local musician Jane Hepburn Macmillan, and internationally renowned fiddler and composer Duncan Chisholm, who performed at the very first HebCelt in 1996.

The official inductions will take place during this year’s HebCelt Festival celebrations in Stornoway, running from 16 to 19 July, as excitement begins to build with music lovers heading to the island from as far away as the US, South Korea and China.

Eddi Reader will lead performances by the new inductees on Thursday night, followed by The Tumbling Souls on Friday with Willie also featuring in a special performance of Metagama: An Atlantic Odyssey at An Lanntair. Skerryvore are performing on Saturday night closing off this year’s party.

Other performers in this year’s packed line-up include headliner Lulu- herself being awarded an honorary doctorate by the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland for her services to music -Tide Lines, Nina Nesbitt, Trail West, Kassidy, Beluga Lagoon, Tom McGuire & The Brassholes, Alasdair White & Keith Morrison, Astro Bloc, Cala, Cassie and Maggie, Ciorstaidh Beaton, Donnie Dòtaman, Elias Alexander, El Sartel, Fèis Eilean an Fhraoich, Iona Mairead, Isla Scott, Josie Duncan, Laura Silverstone, Lauren Collier, LUSA, Madison Violet, Malin Lewis Trio, NATI., Ruairidh Gray, Samba Sene & Diwan, and TRIP.

Organisers are advising those seeking popular weekend tickets not to leave it too late with sales spiking in recent weeks, along with a surge in day passes.