Scottish guitarist, Ian Bairnson, most famously known for his work with Kate Bush and The Alan Parsons Project has recently passed away at age 69. After battling dementia for quite some time as his wife details in a heartfelt Instagram post to share the news.

Bairnson was born August 3rd, 1953 in Lerwick, Scotland while also spending a large portion of his developmental years in Shetland. Starting his musical journey as a studio session guitarist and then later joining Scottish rock band, Pilot, in 1973. Along with his work with his fellow bandmates, Bairnson also began working on music with the British band, The Alan Parsons Project, continuing to play for him decades into his career.

Later in his career beginning to partner with musical icons such as Kate Bush, working on her first four albums including, The Kick Inside and Lionheart, Never For Ever, and The Dreaming. Also contributing a guitar solo on her 1978 song, “Wuthering Heights”. As well as collaborations with Yvonne Keeley, Joe Cocker, Jon Anderson, Chris DeBurgh, and Mick Fleetwood, Even going on tour with Sting and Eric Clapton.

In a recent Facebook post, Parsons paid tribute to Bairnson with the message, “I have always considered Ian a musical genius … He was a true master of the guitar – he knew every possible playable guitar chord and how to describe it”. In light of this very tragic loss, Bairnson left his imprint throughout generations of iconic bodies of work.