Musician and vocalist. Born in Dornoch, Macdonald was raised in Lochmaddy (North Uist) and educated at Portree High School on Skye, where he became a founder member of the Gaelic folk-rock bank Runrig, playing the guitar, with his younger brother Calum (b.1953) on drums and Blair Douglas on accordion. Donnie Munro (b.1953) joined the band the following year as vocalist. Macdonald also writes much of the music for the band and became the singer of the band's Gaelic-language songs after Munro left in 1997. He studied graphical design at the Glasgow School of Art.