Lanark’s Johnny Reid is top music star in Canada

It was back in 1988 that the Reid family left the town to find a better life across the Atlantic and the now 38-year-old Lanarkian certainly found that, now with a CV that includes a string of hit albums and sell-out tours.

Although the rock-orientated country music he plays is very, very much a North American sound, Johnny is still obviously proud of his roots back in the homeland he left as a teenager, given that his official fan club is called Johnny’s Tartan Army!

Apart from now being one of Canada’s most successful recording artists, he’s also won an admirable reputation for being one of the nicest people in Canadian showbiz, winning almost as many awards for his charitable work as for his albums.

He is currently on a 30 date tour of Canada for which 200,000 tickets were sold in advance, such is the fanbase he has built up over a career which had pretty humble beginnings with a hand-to-mouth existence as an independent recording artist before his 2005 album Born to Roll first brought him widespread attention.

For more on this story pick up a copy of the Carluke and Lanark Gazette which is in the shops now.