EVELYN GLENNIE – PERCUSSIONIST

3^rd December is International Day of Persons with Disabilities, with this in mind we have chosen Evelyn Glennie as our Diversity Champion for December.

Evelyn is a Scottish virtuoso percussionist.  She studied at Ellon Academy and the Royal Academy of Music, and was also a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland.  She has been profoundly deaf since the age of 12, having started to lose her hearing from the age of 8.

Evelyn  is the first person in musical history to successfully create and sustain a full-time career as a solo percussionist.

She regularly plays barefoot during both live performances and studio recordings in order to feel the music better.  Evelyn contends that deafness is largely misunderstood by the public. She claims to have taught herself to hear with parts of her body other than her ears. In response to criticism from the media, Glennie published “Hearing Essay” in which she discusses her condition.

She takes part in over 100 concerts a year as well as master classes and “music in schools” performances; she frequently commissions percussion works from composers and performs them in her concert repertoire.  She also plays the  Highland Bagpipes and has her own registered tartan known as “The Rhythms of Evelyn Glennie”.  In 2012, she collaborated with Underworld at the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games performing live in the stadium.

Evelyn was awarded an OBE in 1993 and became a Dame in 2007.

She has won many other awards, including:

• Best Chamber Music Performance in the Grammy Awards of 1989
• Scot of the Year 1982
• Queen’s Commendation prize for all round excellence 1985
• Scotswoman of the Decade 1990
• Best Studio and Live Percussionist from Rhythm Magazine 1998, 2000, 2002, 2003 & 2004
• Walpole Medal of Excellence 2002
• Musical America Instrumentalist of the Year 2003
• Sabian Lifetime Achievement Award 2006
• Percussive Arts Society: Hall of Fame – November 2008

TANNI GREY-THOMPSON – PARALYMPIAN

November is Inspirational Role Models Month and with this in mind we have chosen Tanni Grey-Thompson as our Inspirational Diversity Champion.

Tanni who was born with spina bifida is considered to be one of the most successful disabled athletes in the world. She was christened Carys, but her sister referred to her as “tiny” when she first saw her, pronouncing it “tanni” and the name stuck.

Tanni first representated Wales at wheelchair racing in 1984 making her paralympic debut in Seoul in 1988. Over her career she won a total of 16 paralympic medals, including 11 golds, held over 30 world records and won the London Marathon six times between 1992 and 2002.

She retired following the Paralympic World Cup in Manchester in 2007. In preparation for her retirement from the track, she expanded her television presenting career on BBC Wales, SC4 and BBC One.

Tanni is a non-executive director for UK Athletics, sits on the board of the London Marathon and the board of Transport for London. She is Chair of the Women’s Sports and Fitness Foundation Commission on the Future of Women’s Sport. She is Vice-Chairman of the Laureus World Sport Academy and a trustee of the Sport for Good Foundation. She is also a Council member for the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust and an International Inspiration Ambassador. As well as this she is the Patron of the Tees Wheelyboats Club, a group providing disabled people with access to the Rivers Tees and Chair of the Tony Blaire Sports Foundation.

In March 2010, she was created a Life Peer, in 1993 she was awarded an MBE and OBE for “services to sport”, and in 2005 became a Dame. She has been BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year three times; in 1992, 2000 and 2004. In 2000, she came third in the BBC Sports Personality of the Year, and she also received the Helen Rollason Award for her performance at the 2000 Summer Paralympics.

In July this year the University awarded Tanni a degree of Honorary Doctor of Science in recognition of her long service to disability and disadvantaged people, as well as to sport and the Paralympic games.