From Dick Gaughin's own website:
Well, firstly, and most importantly, Dick Gaughan is a Scot, from Leith on the southern shore of the Firth of Forth. Leith, once a separate port, has been part of Edinburgh since the 1920s but has retained a distinct identity.
Born Richard Peter, the eldest of three children, in 1948. By a sheer accident of timing, this event took place in Rottonrow Maternity Hospital in Glasgow while his father was temporarily working as an engine driver at Colville's Steelworks and so Gaughan spent the first year and a half of his life in Rutherglen, a period of which he swears he has no recollection at all, not even of being knocked down by a bus. This must have had a profound effect, however, because immediately after this he went to Leith to his paternal Irish grandparents with whom he lived until his own parents returned to Leith some months later and he has never been back to Rutherglen since!
His mother, Frances MacDonald, was a Highland Scot, originally from Bohenie in Lochaber, whose first language was Gaelic. She was a singer in both Gaelic and English and won a silver medal at one of the Gaelic Mods as a child in the 30s while at school in Arisaig.
His father, Dick, was born in Leith of an Irish father, also called Dick (Gaughan's grandfather) an Irish speaker and fiddle player, from Doohoma in Iorrais, Co Mayo. Gaughan's grandmother, Bridget Madden, born in Glasgow of Irish parents from Killala, played button accordion and was also a singer, in English only.
Gaughan was brought up immersed in the musical traditions and culture of the Gaels, both Scots and Irish, which naturally, therefore, provide the foundation for everything he does.
He has been a professional musician and singer since Jan 1970. Has been playing guitar since the age of 7 and made his first solo album in 1971. Working mainly in the areas now known as "Folk" or "Celtic" music, he has recorded quite extensively since then in many countries and in various combinations. Has also worked extensively as a session musician in a wide variety of musical styles.