Ian Bairnson

Ian Bairnson (born 3 August 1953, Levenwick, Shetland Isles, Scotland) is a Scottish musician, famous for being one of the core members of The Alan Parsons Project. He is a multi-instrumentalist, who has played saxophone and keyboards, although he is best known as a guitarist. He is also known for preferring the sound of a sixpence to a real plectrum.

While born in Shetland, Bairnson grew up in Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland.

He was a session guitarist before joining up in 1973 with former Bay City Rollers musicians David Paton and Billy Lyall in the band, Pilot, and contributed the harmony guitar parts to their hit single, "Magic". During this time with Pilot, he first collaborated with Parsons, the record producer on their debut self-titled album. It was this relationship that helped incorporate most of the band's members (bassist/lead singer Paton and drummer Stuart Tosh) into the Alan Parsons Project. He played the distinctive guitar solo on the track "I Wouldn't Want to Be Like You" from Parson's I Robot album.

As a guitarist, he has been featured on every Project album, including the 1984 side project Keats. He has also been featured on albums like Kate Bush's The Kick Inside (notably playing the guitar solo on "Wuthering Heights") and also with the band Bucks Fizz (he wrote two of their Top 20 hits, "If You Can't Stand The Heat" and "Run for Your Life").

Currently, he is a session guitarist, and has been touring with a number of different bands, the latest being Junk (Bairnson, Jesús Gabaldón, Pau Chaffer, Sarah Rope and Ángel Celada).

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