Laing /ˈlæŋ, ˈlɛŋ/ is a surname of Scottish extraction, commonly found in countries settled by Scots, such as Canada and New Zealand. It is a descriptive surname, cognate with the English surname Long, meaning "tall". It may refer to:

People[link]

• Alex Laing, New Zealand footballer
• Alexander Gordon Laing, Scottish explorer
• Andrew Laing, New Zealand actor
• Arthur Laing, Canadian politician
• Bobby Laing, Scottish footballer
• Bonnie Laing, Canadian politician
• Bert Laing, New Zealand rugby league footballer
• Brent Laing, Canadian curler
• C. J. Laing, American pornographic actress
• Corky Laing (Laurence Gordon Laing), Canadian musician
• Dan Laing, American sports commentator
• David Laing (Scottish antiquary)
• David Laing (19th century architect)
• Davie Laing, Scottish footballer
• Dilys Laing, Welsh-American poet
• Duncan Laing, New Zealand swimming coach
• Eleanor Laing, British politician
• Gerald Laing, Scottish artist
• Gordon Laing, a British classical bassoonist
• Gordon Jennings Laing, Canadian-American academic
• Hector Laing, Baron Laing of Dunphail
• Hugh Laing, British ballet dancer
• Ivan Laing, Scottish hockey player
• James Laing (cricketer), cricket umpire
• Sir James Laing, shipbuilder
• Sir John Laing, English businessman
• John Laing (Australian rules footballer)
• John Laing (bishop), Scottish bishop
• John Laing (filmmaker), New Zealand screenwriter and film director
• Kerri Laing, South African women's cricketer
• Kirkland Laing, Jamaican-English boxer
• Laing Family
• Leslie Laing, Jamaican athlete
• Malcolm Laing, Scottish historian
• Marie Laing, Canadian politician
• Martin Laing, English businessman
• Martin Laing (production designer), film production designer
• Sir Maurice Laing, English businessman
• Michael Laing, South African chemist
• Sir Kirby Laing, English businessman
• Kirkland Laing, English boxer
• Quintin Laing, professional ice hockey player
• Robbie Laing, American basketball coach
• Robert W. Laing, American film art director
• Ronald David Laing, noted psychiatrist
• Rosemary Laing, Australian artist
• Roy Laing, Australian rules footballer
• Samuel Laing (science writer) (1812-1897)
• Samuel Laing (travel writer) (1780-1868)
• Sandra Laing, South African cause célèbre
• Shona Laing, New Zealand musician
• Stuart Laing, English actor
• Stuart Laing (diplomat), British diplomat
• William Laing, American Civil War Medal of Honor recipient

Companies[link]

• Sir James Laing & Sons, a former British shipbuilding company
• John Laing plc, a British construction company
• Laing Homes, New Zealand construction company
• Laing O'Rourke plc, a British construction company, formerly part of John Laing plc
• Laing Rail, a British transport company, a subsidiary of John Laing plc
• Laing Thermotech, a company specializing in water pumps
• MTR Laing, former name of London Overground Rail Operations Ltd.

Places[link]

• Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle-on-Tyne, England
• Laing Dam, South Africa
• Laing Middle School, South Carolina
• Laing's Nek, a South African mountain pass
  • Battle of Laing's Nek, a Boer War battle at the pass
• Mount Laing, British Columbia

Other[link]

• Laing (food), a Philippines dish made of Taro
• Philip Laing, 19th century ship

See also[link]

• Lang
• Lang (surname)
• Lange

This page or section lists people with the surname Laing. If an internal link intending to refer to a specific person led you to this page, you may wish to change that link by adding the person's given name(s) to the link.

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Sandra Laing (born 1955 in Piet Retief) is a woman who was born to white parents but reclassified as Coloured during the apartheid era in South Africa as she has dark skin. She is the subject of the 2008 biographical film Skin and is the feature of the documentaries Sandra Laing: A Spiritual Journey (2000) and Skin Deep: The Story of Sandra Laing (2009).

Early life[link]

Sandra was born in Piet Retief, a small conservative town in apartheid South Africa. Both Sandra's parents and all her grandparents were white. Her older brother was also white but Sandra and her younger brother had African features. Sandra's parents were both members of the National Party and supporters of the Apartheid system.

During apartheid, schools were segregated; however, since both her parents were white, she was sent to an all-white school. Her parents hoped that as she got older she would get lighter; however, instead she grew darker and her hair became more tightly coiled. At boarding school she was shunned by the other students because of her skin color.

Legal battles[link]

When Sandra was 10 years old, the school authorities expelled her from her all-white school based on the complexion of her skin and a failed pencil test.^[1] She was escorted home by two police officers who refused to tell her what she had done wrong. Her parents fought several legal battles to have her declared white. Her father underwent a blood-typing test for paternity in the 1960s, as DNA tests were not yet available. The results were compatible with him being her biological father.^[2][3]

Later years[link]

Since she was shunned by the white community, Sandra's only friends were the children of black employees. At age 15, she eloped with a black South African to Swaziland. She was jailed for three months for illegal border-crossing. Her father threatened to kill her and broke off contact with her. They never met again and she remained estranged from her family. Sandra managed to track down her mother, Sannie, in a nursing home shortly before the woman died in 2001, but a succession of strokes had stolen Sannie's memory. A book called When She Was White by Judith Stone reports that Sannie did remember Sandra and was happy to see her. Sandra's brothers, both of whom are still alive, had no contact with Sandra at the time the book was written.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Skin movie official website
• Mail&Guardian Skin movie review
• 'Black Afrikaner' story to become film
• Article on Laing from the Daily Mail

Shona Laing
Shona Laing performing at WOMAD 2009 in New Zealand
Background information
Instruments	Guitar
Years active	1972–present
Associated acts	Manfred Mann's Earth Band

Shona Laing (born 9 October 1955) is a New Zealand musician. She has had several hits in her native country, as well as a few minor international hits, most notably "(Glad I'm) Not a Kennedy" and "Soviet Snow". Laing also contributed to the Manfred Mann's Earth Band album Somewhere in Afrika. Laing also contributed music to, and appeared in, the 1985 action film Shaker Run.^[1]

Currently she resides in New Zealand and occasionally plays live shows, enjoying a small but devoted fan base.

Musical career[link]

Laing first came to prominence in 1972 as a 17-year-old schoolgirl, winning the television talent show "New Faces" with her song 1905. Signed to a recording contract with Phonogram, her first two singles, 1905 and Show your Love both certified gold and both peaked at number 4 on the New Zealand charts. In 1973 she won two Rata awards: Best New Artist and Recording Artist Of The Year.^[2] Laing twice represented New Zealand at the Tokyo, in 1973 (with the song Masquerade) and 1974. In 1975 she travelled to Britain and was based there for the next seven years, where in 1982, she was a vocalist for Manfred Mann's Earth Band alongside fellow New Zealander, Chris Thompson.

Private life[link]

During a concert on July 18, 1996, Shona Laing came out as bisexual and noted that she was in a relationship with another woman.^{[3][dead link][4]}

Discography[link]

Singles[link]

• "1905" (1972)
• "Show Your Love" (1973)
• "Masquerade" (1973)
• "Someone To Be With" (1973)
• "One In A Miilion" (1985)
• "(Glad I'm) Not A Kennedy" (1986) #2 NZ, #14 U.S. Modern Rock
• "Drive Baby Drive" (1987) #45 NZ
• "Soviet Snow" (1987) #32 U.S. Dance
• "Caught" (1987)

Albums[link]

• Whispering Afraid (1972)
• Shooting Stars Are Only Seen At Night (1974)
• Tied To The Tracks (1982)
• Genre (1985)
• South (1987)
  • Virgin Records release, original version of album
  • Epic Records release, different set of tracks / track order
• 1905–1990 Retrospective* (1991)
• New on Earth (1992)
• Shona (1994)
• Roadworks (1997)
• The Essential Shona Laing* (2002)
• PASS THE WHISPER 2007

References[link]

External links[link]

• Interview
• Shona Laing Biography

This article relies largely or entirely upon a single source. Please help improve this article by introducing citations to additional sources. Discussion about the problems with the sole source used may be found on the talk page. (February 2011)

Corky Laing
Laing of West, Bruce and Laing; April, 1973, Frankfort
Background information
Birth name	Laurence Gordon Laing
Born	(1948-01-26) January 26, 1948 (age 64) Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Genres	Rock, hard rock, psychedelic rock blues-rock, heavy metal
Occupations	Musician, songwriter
Instruments	Drums, guitar
Years active	1961–present
Labels	Elektra, Epic, Lightyear
Associated acts	Mountain, West, Bruce and Laing

Laurence Gordon "Corky" Laing (born January 26, 1948)^[1] is a Canadian rock drummer, best known as a longtime member of pioneering American hard rock band Mountain.^[1] He is also noted with performing what would become one of the most sampled drum breaks in hip hop history when he played on the live version of Mountain's song Long Red.

Biography[link]

A native of Montreal, Quebec,^[1] Laing was the youngest in a family of five children. His eldest sister Carol was followed by triplet brothers, Jeffrey, Leslie, and Stephen, and then by Corky. According to Corky, his brothers called him "Gorky" because they could not pronounce his given name. "Gorky" eventually morphed into Corky, a moniker which has remained with him throughout his career.

Getting his break playing drums for vocal group The Ink Spots in 1961, he later played in a group called Energy, who were produced by Cream collaborator and Laing's future bandmate Felix Pappalardi. Laing left Energy in 1969 to replace drummer N.D. Smart in hard rock outfit and heavy metal forerunner Mountain, who, with Laing at the drum kit, released three albums and the classic song "Mississippi Queen" between 1970 and 1971.

After the band's first breakup the following year, Laing and Mountain bandmate Leslie West went on to form blues-rock power trio West, Bruce and Laing with former Cream bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce. West, Bruce and Laing produced two studio albums and a live release before Mountain reformed in 1974 and released two more albums, Avalanche and the live Twin Peaks, only to break up again shortly after. The band would once again reconvene in 1985 upon the release of Go For Your Life, and Laing has continued with them to this day, most recently working on the band's 2007 Bob Dylan cover album Masters of War.

Laing performing in 2007

In addition to Mountain, he has recorded as the group Cork, with Spin Doctors guitarist/vocalist Eric Schenkman and Noel Redding, formerly bass guitarist of The Jimi Hendrix Experience. In late 1975, he played congas on several tracks on Bo Diddley's all-star album The 20th Anniversary of Rock 'n' Roll.

In 2003, Laing and Leslie West authored Nantucket Sleighride and Other Mountain on-the-Road Stories, a chronicle of their time with Mountain in its heyday and their careers in the years following.

Laing lives in Toronto's historic Liberty Village and was interviewed for the 2006 documentary film Liberty Village - Somewhere in Heaven. He contributed the music for the film from recordings of his band Cork.

In 2007, Laing recorded Stick It!, the audio version of his memoirs with Cory Bruyea in Oakville, Ontario.

Collaborations[link]

• Bo Diddley
• Mahogany Rush
• John Lennon
• Bobby Keyes
• Ten Years After
• David Rea
• Mylon LeFevre
• Meat Loaf

Discography[link]

With Mountain[link]

Studio albums[link]

• Climbing! (1970)
• Nantucket Sleighride (1971)
• Flowers of Evil (1971; partially live)
• Avalanche (1974)
• Go for Your Life (1985)
• Man's World (1996)
• Mystic Fire (2002)
• Masters of War (2007)

Live albums[link]

• Mountain Live: The Road Goes Ever On (1972)

Compilation albums[link]

• The Best of Mountain (1973)
• Over the Top (2001)

With West, Bruce and Laing[link]

• 1972 - Why Dontcha
• 1973 - Whatever Turns You On
• 1974 - Live 'n' Kickin'

Selected discography[link]

For his work with Mountain and West, Bruce and Laing, see their pages.

• 1977: Makin' It On the Street
• 1999: The Secret Sessions
• 1999: Cork - Speed of Thought
• 2003: Cork - Out There

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Mountain website
• Corky Laing at the Internet Movie Database