Tony Cuffe (born in Greenock on 6 April 1954; died in Arlington, MA, on 18 December 2001) was a Scottish singer and guitarist. One of the most distinctive voices of contemporary folk song, first in the music and song of his native Scotland, and later in the Irish music scene of North America. He is remembered for his solo work and for being a co-founder of Alba (a pioneering band that made an album of that name in 1978), and for later being a member of Jock Tamson’s Bairns (which came out of Edinburgh’s famous session bar Sandy Bell’s) and of Glasgow-based Ossian (recording four albums with them: Seal Song; Dove Across the Water; Borders; and Light on a Distant Shore.

In 1988 he made his solo album: When First I Went to Caledonia.

With Ossian he toured Europe and North America, undertook considerable radio and television work, appeared with the influential 7:84 Theatre Company and contributed to the projects of Billy Kay, including his Fergusson’s Auld Reikie, and to Billy Jackson’s ensemble works The Wellpark Suite and St Mungo.

In 1989 he moved to Massachusetts and settled (with his young family) in Arlington, near Boston. While continuing to tour with Ossian and the group's Billy Jackson, he became firmly established as a solo performer, adding harp, whistle and harmonica to his skills, and was recognised as a popular teacher of traditional music. He performed regularly with the cream of Scottish and Irish musicians in the United States and worked extensively with the Windbags. He also taught at Boston College’s Gaelic Roots Summer School and the Cambridge Center for Adult Education.

A retrospective album Sae Will We Yet, featuring unreleased tracks and archive recordings, was released by Greentrax Records after his untimely death in December 2001. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.