Lewis McElroy has been playing bagpipes for 41 years. He first learned to play the bagpipes in 1974 with a local bagpipe band in Alexandria, Virginia. In his early years,he was a successful, amateur competitive solo piper. In 1985, Lewis refocused his attention and energies to starting his own bagpipe band, Lionheart, in Alexandria,Virginia. This band became a successful competition band for several years.

Eventually, Lewis was asked to join a higher graded bagpipe band, Scottish and Irish Imports, in 1988. Lewis performed with this band until the early 1990’s where he took a sabbatical to focus on school. Afterwards, he joined the MacMillan Pipe Band which is now a higher graded competitive pipe band.

Lewis enjoys teaching the bagpipe and has taught almost as long as he has been playing. He still has several students in the metro area who are active in other local bands.