Often the idea of living in the “middle of nowhere” seems like a peaceful experience, but not if you are the Lennox family.
Smiling fondly, Annie Lennox – the one from Aberdeenshire, not Aberdeen – admitted: “We were a very noisy house growing up.
“It was probably just as well we had no neighbours.
“Growing up we were all very close and the music gave us something to do.”
One of three, Annie, 27, was brought up with her two siblings Cit and Mac by her parents on Knock Hill between Portsoy and Keith.
In their mum Jill Andrew’s opinion, their isolated location led to the family’s musical talents and later on, proved to be the making of a slightly unusual musical career.
Jill said: “It’s up the hill in the middle of nowhere and I wonder if that’s instrumental in having such a lot of music around us because there was nothing else.
“No other distractions. It was a case of ‘Right kids, let’s sing a song’.”
The family acapella trio Tripple
The singing stuck so much that Annie, Cit, and mum Jill now travel and perform together as an acapella family band called Tripple.
Since forming, they have travelled around the UK and Europe to perform at festivals, concerts and competitions.
When asked how they describe their trio and style, Annie said: “I say it’s a family band, it’s acapella singing.
“We prioritise quite interesting harmonies, it’s not all predictable.
“We have a lot of fun doing those kinds of arrangements which are predominantly traditional Scottish, although we also do a bit of contemporary.”
Musical from a young age
For Cit and Annie growing up, it was singing that got them into music.
They first performed together in Cornhill at a talent show by singing to their dollies, Annie aged three and Cit five.
Even singing in harmony, Annie said: “Singing was very much the first thing for me with music.
“Then pretty early I started doing fiddle.”
Annie also picked up the piano and by age 16, saved enough money to buy a £2,500 harp.
Both Annie and Cit – who also played the fiddle and tenor horn – grew up being part of different groups like the Strathbogie Fiddlers, Strathspey Fiddlers, Aurora Choir and doing the Burns Federation Competition.
Annie also attended Plockton’s National Centre of Excellence in Traditional Music for her final year.
While she said it was an exciting place to be, Annie, who would sing at home with Cit and her mum, said she realised there was a natural harmony with family singing.
“There were some phenomenal singers,” she said. “But singing with them, it made me appreciate what I had with Cit and mum because I think there is just a balance and a blend when your voices are related that you can’t replicate with anyone.
“It’s special.”
How did the Tripple trio happen?
At home, the whole family will often do Hogmanay and Burns Supper together.
Mac will do some of the addressing, their dad Billy will pipe in the haggis and Annie, Cit and Jill sing.
In 2012 at the Dunfermline Folk Club’s 60th anniversary, they decided to do their first performance as a family.
Jill, who has an architecture practice, said: “That was the first time we had been on a big stage.
“Billy and Mac joined us for two songs and we did the rest ourselves and I think afterwards Annie, Cit and I thought, ‘we want to do this again’.”
So as a trio, they decided to take part in the next Portsoy Folk Festival and for the next few years, entering competitions and singing at different concerts became a tradition.
Naming themselves Tripple, Jill explained it had two meanings – in Doric, it means to tap in time to music and also when two tides meet it can be called the triple tides – in a nod to their playing around with dynamics and harmonies.
Now living in different parts of Scotland with only Jill still living in Moray, they said they tend to use their gigs and performances as family catch-ups and holidays.
Jill said: “Now it takes a lot of planning to meet up.
“That’s probably why a lot of our concerts now are on the continent in France and Germany and Holland because it’s just as easy for us all to meet there as it is anywhere else.”
Annie added: “It’s two birds with one stone because you’re getting to do singing, you’re getting a holiday and you’re getting family time. So you’re covering all your bases.”
‘Are you the real Annie Lennox?’
The family unit is usually met with the same response when introducing themselves.
Annie said: “They say ‘One of them is your mother? No way. It must be three sisters.’
“And we always have to go ‘Ha ha ha’.”
Jill added: “And also ‘Annie Lennox is part of your group?'”
With the same name as the famous Aberdonian singer-songwriter, Annie said it had created a few interesting conversations.
One time when publicising a Tripple performance, a host sold the acapella band as ‘Annie Lennox and Friends’.
“It did seem a bit cheeky,” Annie added.
“The name haunts me somewhat. I’m forever the other Annie Lennox. However, it’s often a good talking point.”
The name was a bit of a spontaneous choice
When asked about her middle child’s name choice, Jill admitted it was a spontaneous decision after nearly missing the naming deadline with Cit.
When Cit was born, the mum-of-three took 21 days to settle on a name which is the maximum amount of time given in Scotland.
“With Annie, I determined to choose a name much quicker,” Jill explained. “So four hours after Annie was born, I woke up at midnight and looked at her and thought, ‘It’s an Annie’.
“The next morning, the nurse came in and said, ‘Have you got a name?’
I said, ‘Yes, it’s Annie’, very proudly. And she said, ‘What’s the surname?’
“‘Oh, it’s Lennox.'”
For the next 21 days, Jill debated over the name but in the end, decided it was the right one.
While it has led to a lot of jokes, Annie admitted she had grown attached to her name.
“I think it’s actually done me quite well,” said the planetary geology PhD student.
“My current supervisor for my PhD project admitted that he first contacted me for the position because my name was Annie Lennox.
“So as much as I get made fun of for it, it might also not be as negative.”
What life looks like now, careers and highlights
Since their first performance together, Cit said they had enjoyed performing all over Scotland and Europe, with the maritime and sea shanty festivals being a personal highlight.
The 29-year-old said: “That’s been something we never expected to get into. It’s been really nice to be picked up by that scene.
“A highlight for me was the Bremen festival that we did in Germany. That was the biggest scale – apart from Paimpol – 165,000 for a sea shanty festival which is crazy.
“I just expected it to be like Portsoy Folk Festival…but we did the final concert for the Bremen festival to fireworks. Everybody in the audience had a wee sparkler and all the fireworks were going off.
“That was definitely a highlight for me, just looking out on a sea of people who were very sparkly. It was lovely.”
Of course, these occasions mean a lot of spending time together, often in close quarters.
Behind the scenes, it appears Annie is the organised (and slightly bossy according to Jill) one, Cit brings the fun and snacks, and Jill is the cheery and friendly personality.
Despite their differences, they appear to genuinely enjoy spending time together as a family.
Something which Cit’s friends questioned growing up and when hearing about the trips.
Cit, who is part of two other bands while working with the charity Hear My Music and as an NHS peer support worker, said: “My friends would ask ‘Do you not want to kill each other?’
“And honestly no, mum and dad did something right. I genuinely enjoy spending time with them as well, it’s not an obligation.”
Annie agreed and said their joy from being together and singing tends to shine through on stage.
“We just have so much fun with it,” she said. “We’re always very smiley.
“We enjoy putting the music out there, but we also just enjoy being with family and that we have a relationship that isn’t the most conventional.”
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