Richest people in Scotland: Calvin Harris, Paolo Nutini and Lewis Capaldi among celebs who’ve had a prosperous year

From actors to businessmen, let’s take a look at 11 of the richest people born in Scotland

Scotland has been the home and birth place of some very successful people including businessman Sir Tom Hunter and football legend Kenny Dalgish.

It has also raised some A-list actors including Gerard Butler, who starred in the 2022 film Last Seen Alive, and James McAvoy, who played a character with 23 alter egos in the 2016 film Split.

Sir Ian Wood tops the list of the richest people in Scotland with an astonishing £1.819 billion net worth, whilst Paisley-born singer Paolo Nutini sits at the bottom with a whopping £7.5 million.

From actors to businessmen, let’s take a look at 11 of the richest people in Scotland.

Sir Ian Wood

Sir Ian Wood is one of Scotland’s most high-profile names in business. (Photo by Lisa Ferguson)

Ian Wood was born in Aberdeen in 1942, and attended Robert Gordon’s College before studying a psychology degree at the University of Aberdeen.

He is best known for his work in the North Sea oil industry. Ian joined his family business, Wood Group, in 1964 and became the chief executive by 1967 - a role he held until 2006.

He was largely responsible for transforming the Wood Group from a modest size company to a large corporation with operations in over 50 countries.

Ian and his family set up Scotland-based charity The Wood Foundation in 2007. The venture philanthropic organisation now has management and operational teams throughout  Kenya, Rwanda, and Tanzania.

As of 2022, Sir Ian Wood and his family sit in 100th place on the Sunday Times Rich List. The family have a worth of £1.819 billion - which was no change from the year before.

Jim McColl

Jim McColl owned Ferguson Marine before it went into administration and was taken over by the Scottish Government in 2019. Picture: Craig Williamson/SNS Group

James McColl was born in Carmunnock, a small village outside of East Kilbride, in 1951. He attended Rutherglen Academy before leaving education at 16 to take up an engineering apprenticeship.

He is now best known as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Clyde Blowers - a Scottish industrial investment company which owns several engineering companies.

Jim and his wife Shona now live in Monaco, but also have a home just outside of Glasgow.

In the 2022 Sunday Times Rich List, Jim McColl is said to be worth £996 million - which is just £4 million less than 2021. He sits at 178th place on the list.

Lord Irvine Laidlaw

Lord Irvine Laidlaw of Rothiemay is a passionate yacht owner, with strong opinions about the racing world. (Photo by Bruce Thomas)

Irvine Laidlow was born in Keith, Banffshire in 1942, and attended Merchiston Castle School - a boarding school in the suburb of Colinton in Edinburgh.

After graduating from the University of Leeds, Irvine turned a small US publishing company into the Institute for International Research (IIR). In 2005, he sold IIR for a sum believed to be around £768m.

In 1988, Irvine founded Abbey Business Centres, a subsidiary of IIR providing serviced office space, meeting room facilities and virtual office packages.

The first business centre opened in Glasgow. Other centres were later added, and in 2009 a total of 13 centres made up the organisation.

Irvine previously owned and raced a Jaguar, which won the French annual sports car race Le Mans a number of times throughout the 1950s.

He was previously a member of the House of Lords and is one of the largest financial backers of the Conservative Party.

As of 2022, Lord Laidlaw sits at 217th place on the Sunday Times Rich List. He has a worth of £759 million - which was £28 million less than the year before.

Sir Tom Hunter

Sir Tom Hunter is one of Scotland's best known business figures.

Thomas Hunter was born in New Cumnock, Ayrshire, in 1961. He later graduated from the University of Strathclyde.

Tom started out by selling trainers from a van and by 1984, he had created one of Europe’s largest independent sports retailers, Sports Division.

In November 1995, Tom and his business partner purchased larger rival Olympus Sports, and merged them into the Sports Division brand.

David Whelan’s JJB Sports later offered to buy Sports Division, and in 1998, Tom earnt himself £252 million from the sale.

In 2001, Hunter became a founding partner of West Coast Capital, the private equity arm of the Hunter Family.

In the 2022 Sunday Times Rich List, Sir Tom Hunter is said to be worth £700 million - which is £29 million less than 2021. He sits at 230th place on the list.

Sir Brian Souter and Dame Ann Gloag

Sir Brian Souter and Ann Gloag, who founded the Stagecoach transport empire, share a huge family fortune.

Siblings Brian and Ann Souter were born in Perth in 1954 and 1942 respectively.

Brian started out his career as a Chartered Accountant, and Ann spent 20-years working as a nurse in a burn unit.

However, in 1980, using their bus driver father’s redundancy money, they established the Stagecoach Group.

They began by running buses from Dundee to London, and by the early 1990s, Stagecoach acquired National Bus Company operations in Cumberland, Hampshire, East Midlands, Ribble, Southdown and the United Counties.

Stagecoach then bought further bus operations in Scotland, Newcastle, London and Manchester.

As of 2022, Sir Brian Souter and Dame Ann Gloag sit jointly at 237th place on the Sunday Times Rich List. The pair have a combined worth of £696 million - which had increased by £46 million since 2021.

Calvin Harris

Calvin Harris performs at SUPERBLOOM Festival 2022 on September 03, 2022 in Munich, Germany. (Photo by Joshua Sammer/Getty Images for Superbloom )

Adam Wiles, known professionally as Calvin Harris, was born in Dumfries in 1984. He attended Calside Primary School then Dumfries High School.

After leaving school, Adam stocked shelves in supermarkets and worked in a local fish factory to save money for DJ gear.

He began to produce records and in 2006 he signed contracts with Three Six Zero Group (management), EMI (publishing), and Sony BMG (recording) who discovered him on Myspace.

Calvin Harris’ debut album, I Created Disco, was released in June 2007. He has released five more albums since.

According to Wealthy Gorilla, Calvin Harris has a net worth of $300 million (£250 million). The site also recently listed him as the “richest DJ in the world”, beating the likes of David Guetta, Tiesto and The Chainsmokers duo.

Gerard Butler

Gerard Butler attends the LA Premiere of Lionsgate's "Angel Has Fallen" at Regency Village Theatre on August 20, 2019 in Westwood, California. (Photo by Amy Sussman/Getty Images)

Gerard Butler was born in Paisley, Renfrewshire, in 1969. He was head boy at St Mirin’s & St Margaret’s High School and studied at the University of Glasgow School of Law.

He broke into acting in the late 1990’s with a number of small film roles, including in Mrs Brown (1997), Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), and Tale of the Mummy (1998).

In 2006, Butler gained worldwide recognition for his portrayal of King Leonidas in Zack Snyder’s fantasy war film 300.

Butler starred as Secret Service agent Mike Banning in the 2013 film Olympus Has Fallen. He later reprised his role as Mike in London Has Fallen (2016) and Angel Has Fallen (2019).

His most recent appearance was as main character Will Spann in mystery film Last Seen Alive.

This year, Gerard’s voice will appear in the upcoming animated television series Ark: The Animated.

Gerard Butler is worth $80 million (£66.7 million), according to Celebrity Net Worth.

James McAvoy

James McAvoy speaks on stage during HBO Max's HIS DARK MATERIALS interview at New York Comic Con 2022 on October 06, 2022 in New York City. (Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for ReedPop)

James McAvoy was born in Glasgow in 1979. He attended the Catholic St Thomas Aquinas Secondary School in the Jordanhill area of the city.

He made his acting debut as a teen in 1995 film The Near Room, but is most famous for playing Mr Tunmus in 2005’s The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

James also played Conor Ludlow in film series The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby, which included Him (2013)  Her (2013), and Them (2014).

He has most recently appeared in television series His Dark Materials. James portrayed Lord Asriel in nine episodes of the fantasy series, between 2019 and 2022.

According to Celebrity Net Worth, James McAvoy is worth $20 million (£16.7 million).

Lewis Capaldi

Lewis Capaldi, Scottish singer-songwriter attends the evening session of The Cazoo World Darts Championship at Alexandra Palace on December 16, 2022 in London, England. (Photo by Luke Walker/Getty Images)

Lewis Capaldi was born in Glasgow in 1996, and he began playing guitar when he was just nine-years-old.

Manager Ryan Walter discovered Lewis, when he was 18-years-old, after hearing an iPhone recording that was recorded in his bedroom and uploaded to SoundCloud.

He rose to fame in 2017 when he released his debut single Bruises, which was part of his 2019 album Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent.

Lewis’ best known song is Someone You Loved which was released in 2019. The song has won six awards and is officially the “most streamed song of all time in the UK”.

He released Forget Me in September 2022, which became his first song to debut at the top of the UK Singles Chart.

The track is the lead single for Lewis’ second album, Broken by Desire to Be Heavenly Sent, which is due to be released on May 19, 2023.

Last year, Lewis released a line of frozen pizzas called Big Sexy Pizza was also released that month.

Lewis Capaldi is worth $10million (£8.3 million), according to Celebrity Net Worth.

Kenny Dalgish

Sir Kenny Dalglish speaks as Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp receives the freedom of the City of Liverpool at Liverpool Town Hall on November 2, 2022 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Nick Taylor/Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

Kenneth Dalglish was born in Glasgow in 1951.

After training through Cumbernauld and Celtic football youth academies, Kenny signed for Celtic in 1967.

He remained at the Scottish club till 1977 when he moved to Liverpool for a record fee of £440,000 (£2,908,000 today).

During his career as a forward, he made 204 appearances for Celtic and 355 for Liverpool.

Kenny also played for the Scotland national team, where he earned a record 102 full caps and scored a joint-record 30 goals.

He later began a management career after becoming a player-manager at Liverpool in 1985. He stopped playing for Liverpool in 1990, and resigned as manager in February 1991.

Kenny later managed Blackburn Rovers (1991-1995), Newcastle United (1997-1998), before returning to Liverpool in 2011 for one year.

Anfield’s Centenary Stand was renamed after Kenny in May 2017.

According to The Richest, Kenny Dalgish is worth £8 million.

Paolo Nutini

Paolo Nutini performs on the Virgin Media stage during Day 2 of the V Festival at Hylands Park on August 17, 2014 in Chelmsford, England. (Photo by Ian Gavan/Getty Images)

Paolo Nutini was born in Paisley in 1987. It was his teacher from St Andrews Academy in Hawkhead who recognised his singing talent.

Paolo made his first demo in May 2005, which got him signed with Atlantic Records shortly after his 18th birthday. He then released his first single These Streets as a free download in May 2006.

His debut album, titled These Streets, was then released two months later. It peaked at number three on the UK Albums Chart.

Paolo has since released three more studio albums; Sunny Side Up (2009), Caustic Love (2014) and Last Night in the Bittersweet (2022).

Paolo Nutini is worth $9 million (£7.5 million), according to The Richest.