Happy 56th Birthday, singer and actress Lorraine McIntosh born 13th May 1964 in Glasgow.
Lorraine was brought up in Cumnock, Ayrshire from about the age of three. She has been a member of one of Scotland's favourite bands Deacon Blue since they formed in Glasgow in 1985.
Lorraine didn't have an easy upbringing, she lost her mother and she said her Dad coped for a while then fell apart, hitting the bottle he started missing rent payments which led to them being evicted, she said the council waited until she had turned 18, a week after that the were out. In an interview for The Big Issue Lorraine poured her heart out saying...........
“I got a phonecall from a social worker saying I wasn’t to go home, as dad had been evicted. I was at the bus stop with my friend, but couldn’t get on the bus. She phoned her mum and I ended up staying with them at first. No clothes, no nothing. We lost everything. It just got put in the street. And the saddest thing was I lost all my mum’s things, her clothes, wee bits of jewellery, all put on the street. Gone.”
Last year Lorraine joined up with the Simon Community’s Nightstop campaign, to encourage people to open their homes to vulnerable young people. The Nightstop service offers young people aged 16 to 25 a safe place to stay when they find themselves in a crisis. All the volunteer hosts are fully vetted and trained. Since starting in Glasgow last year, eight families have provided 96 nights of emergency accommodation. She and her husband, Deacon Blue frontman Ricky Ross, are considering signing up as hosts – but only if the Simon Community think that their high profile won’t get in the way.
Lorraine married Ricky in 1988 they have four bairns together. The couple have already welcomed one stranger into their home. Lorraine said: “We haven’t taken in anyone from Nightstop but we took in a young asylum seeker for a few months. His problems were very complex but we could be there for him.”
Lorraine has also been successful as an actress, probably best known for playing Deek Henderson's mother Alice in River City, she has also been in Taggart and the excellent Ken Loach film, My name is Joe, which also starred Gary Lewis and Peter Mullan. She splits her time between touring with Deacon Blue and acting.
Outlander fans who are not familiar with her music or acting will know her from the recently aired Mercy Shall Follow Me, episode ten in the current series, Lorraine played Mrs. Sylvie, the owner of a popular brothel in Cross Creek.
The video is Lorraine doing a beautiful version of the late great Hamish Henderson song,
