Famous piper, the first in a line who served MacLeod of MacLeod at Dunvegan. It is said that his chief sent MacCrimmon to a piping school in Ireland. He went on to perfect the Pibroch as a musical form and gave rise to a line of hereditary pipers. His compositions include The Earl of Ross's March (1600) and MacLeod's Controversy (1603).
MacCrimmon undertook a series of adventures to avenge the death of his brother, Patrick Coag, who had been murdered by a Mackenzie of Kintail.