Ian Melrose was born in Middlesbrough, England. As a youth he moved back to Ayr in Scotland with his Scottish parents and younger brother. Ian’s father was a member of the Scottish Fiddle Orchestra, so traditional music was always there somewhere. His early influences were the famous figures from the “British school” of guitar-playing i.e. Davey Graham, John Renbourn, Bert Jansch and John Martyn.

Moving to Berlin in 1981, he has made a name for himself on the German acoustic scene initially with the trio TWILIGHT, which won the 1985 Edinburgh Folk Festival folk group competition and subsequently recorded an album (“Twilight” – Modern Folk Arrangements”) for the Scottish label, Lismor. He then continued to make a name for himself as a solo fingerstylist and as a founder member of the folk-pop bands BE MINE OR RUN and TALKING WATER, as half of the duo KELPIE (with Kerstin Blodig) and as guitarist and arranger with the Celtic project NORLAND WIND.

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