Bill Wilkie

William Wilkie MBE (6 January 1922 – 1 May 2017) was a Scottish musician and businessman. He was regarded as a leader of Scottish accordion music and, in 1949, established the All-Scotland Accordion & Fiddle Festival (now the Perth Accordion & Fiddle Festival), which still takes place today.

Wilkie's career spanned five decades, during which he met and performed for several British prime ministers, including Edward Heath, Harold Wilson, Alec Douglas-Home and Margaret Thatcher.

Early life Born early in the new year of 1922, at 21 King Street in Perth, Scotland, Wilkie was the youngest of four children (two brothers and two sisters). His father, a fiddle player, was a self-employed tailor. His mother was a housewife, but during hard times she worked at Paterson's, a music shop in Perth's Methven Street, as a caretaker. Wilkie joined her periodically, and sometimes they sat and listened to the practicing musicians in the studios above the shop.

In 1959, he converted a cobblers' shop, wedged between Perth's Canal Crescent and Charterhouse Lane, into Wilkie's Music House, which was very popular over the next fifty years. After also having a shop in Perth's James Street and in Dundee, the three were combined into the Canal Crescent location in 1984, initially known as Wilkie's New Music House.

In 2011, he considered moving to smaller premises, but decided instead to retire. Wilkie's son-in-law Bill Colburn moved the business online, but it has since ceased trading.

Personal life In 1940, Wilkie was called up into the Royal Air Force, and completed his basic training at Redcar. He was posted to Kinnell, near Friockheim in Angus.

Ena died in 2003, and Wilkie survived her by fourteen years. He died in 2017, aged 95, at Perth Royal Infirmary. His funeral was held on 11 May at St Leonard's-in-the-Fields Church. He was buried in Wellshill Cemetery.