Percussionist DAME EVELYN GLENNIE reveals her life-changing payday

Daily Mail​

26-04-2025

Dame Evelyn Glennie, 59, is the first person to sustain a full-time career as a solo percussionist, performing worldwide with great artists and orchestras, writes Peter Robertson.
Born in Aberdeenshire, her hearing declined from the age of eight, making her achievements all the more remarkable.
She's worked with artists include Danny Boyle (on the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics), Bjork and Dire Straits' Mark Knopfler.
She was made a Dame in 2007. Divorced, she lives in Cambridgeshire.
What did your parents teach you about money?
To be financially independent and responsible with it.
Being brought up on a farm, the holidays were always spent doing things like picking potatoes at other farms, where I'd get £6 to £10 a day, and that went into a jar I could use to buy things such as Christmas presents. When I left home at 16 to study at the Royal Academy of Music in London, it was important to be responsible with money.
What was your first pay packet?
One of my jobs on the farm was to look after sick lambs. If I managed to keep them alive, once they were sold at the mart, Dad allowed me to have that money.
So that was a nice incentive, although I'd have looked after the lambs for no money, of course, as they were so cute.
When I started doing sessions for Harry Secombe's TV series Highway, I got double what I'd expected so I told them they must have made a mistake, but it was explained that as I played multiple instruments I earned more.
Have you ever struggled to make ends meet?
Not really. I've been lucky on that front.
As a student in London I tried to get through each week on £10-£25 – I wasn't the sort to buy new jeans over a piece of music.
In those days you could buy lunch in the Academy canteen cheaply. My diet was practically sausage and beans. I had a complete focus on creating a career as a solo percussionist.
Have you ever been paid silly money?
In the late 1980s I was asked to take part in a TV advert, playing the marimba on top of a Fuji Bank building in Paris. The fee was £20,000, so of course I was going to say yes.
They also gave me free rein to buy a dress, so I went to Harrods and got one for more than £1,000. It seemed absurd to buy that without a worry.
The £20,000 allowed me to buy a 3.5-ton van to transport my own equipment, to tour Europe and build a team of people. So that money was a godsend.
What's been the best year of your financial life?
My first 20 or so years in the music business were very lucrative, in that many of the arts organisations, promoters and venues and so on were well supported. That's not the case nowadays – it can be a real challenge.
I was lucky to become financially independent quite early on, in order to do things like employ a team of people. If I started out now, I don't think that would be possible in quite the same way.
Are you a spender or saver?
I'm certainly a saver, but I do spend quite a bit on percussion instruments, which I love, think are beautiful and am curious about, and I still use a lot of them.
That is really my thing. I can probably count the pairs of shoes
I have with one hand – though I sometimes record and perform barefoot to feel physically more connected to the sound. The Evelyn Glennie Collection in Huntingdon, which people can visit, includes over 3,800 instruments.
What's the most expensive thing you bought for fun?
I had a midlife moment when playing in Austria about 25 years ago.
I had just passed my motorbike test and bought a lovely MV Agusta for about £12,000, and took it home in the 7.5 ton truck I had then. But insurers seemed to target musicians, and with my hearing impairment the cost went through the roof, so I never rode the bike.
I still have it though, and when people tour my Collection it's the first thing they see... and the last thing they expect to see.
What has been your biggest money mistake?
That was in about 1988 when I bought my first property – a one-bedroom flat in west London.
I'd had no advice. Then, when properties were sold in Scotland, you just paid the asking price – there was no haggling. I assumed that was true of the UK.
I moved out of London to where I am now in 1992 – I wish I'd been in a financial position to keep the flat. In the Collection there's a card written by a neighbour in London threatening to 'take things further' if I didn't keep the noise down!
The best money decision you've made?
Employing someone who knows more about money than me. That has been important because, although I'm a saver and like to know what's in the bank and what my money is doing, I'm not one who wants to manage it day to day.
Do you have a pension?
Yes, on my parents' advice, I've had one since I was a young professional.
Do you own any property?
I own a five-bedroom house in a tiny village, two houses that are rented out and a business unit.
Do you donate money to charity?
Yes. I've always done quite a lot for charities, whether doing something or donating financially. But at the moment the bulk of my energy is towards supporting my own charity, The Evelyn Glennie Foundation.
Its mission is to teach the world to listen. For example, we work in prisons where listening is key to what goes on. Listening has been an important part of my journey.
If you were Chancellor of the Exchequer, what would you do?
We put a lot of importance on wellbeing, and people are living longer, yet I think the elderly are not always well treated.
We need to think about the quality of care and the respect that we put towards that generation, because they can be incredibly valuable to society.
What is your top indulgence?
Aside from percussion instruments, I enjoy going to antique fairs, for walks and cycles, and metal detecting – but those aren't expensive hobbies.
I was given a metal detector about 12 years ago by a friend as a Christmas present. I've never found anything valuable – mostly bits of old farm machinery – but it's a lovely, relaxing thing to do.
What is your No.1 financial priority?
To make sure there's always financial independence, and the wherewithal to ensure everything is protected as much as possible.