Singer-songwriter Gerry Rafferty, as well as two Scottish leading folk singers, have been added to a dictionary of national biography.

The Baker Street star's name features in the latest update of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography is published today and adds biographies of 226 men and women "who left their mark on British life" and who died in 2011.

Paisley-born Rafferty, who died of liver failure in January 2011 at the age of 63, is best known for his haunting hit single Baker Street from 1978 and for his band, Stealer's Wheel.

The star later produced records by Richard and Linda Thompson and the Proclaimers as well as contributing to the 1983 soundtrack of Local Hero.

Also included are Campbell Christie, the trade unionist and devolution campaigner, Gordon McLennan the penultimate general secretary of the Communist Party of Great Britain; the notable Scottish singers and musicians Ray Fisher, Ishbel MacAskill as well as the film director John Mackenzie and the theologian and hermit, Father Roland Walls.

Others added to new edition include he journalist and writer, Christopher Hitchens, the singer Amy Winehouse and actress Elizabeth Taylor.

Also added to the Oxford DNB is an updated biography of Jimmy Savile the DJ and serial sex offender, taking into account his many crimes.

Editor David Cannadine said: "The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography is not a collection of the 'great and good' but a record of people who left their mark on national life, for good or ill.

"The DNB has always included criminals, particularly those whose crimes led to sustained debate on matters of public protection, as in the case of Jimmy Savile.

"To many at his death, Savile was a popular performer and charity worker, but the subsequent revelation of his terrible crimes has led to inquiries, police investigations, and a change in attitudes towards the protection of children and other vulnerable individuals."

The Oxford DNB describes itself as "the national record of men and women who have shaped British history, worldwide, from prehistory to 2011."

The dictionary includes biographies of 59,453 people, written by 14,044 contributors.

The Glasgow-born folk singer Ray Fisher, born in 1940, was one of the leading performers of traditional Scots songs. Singing with her brother Archie, Ray Fisher gained greatly from the folk boom's exposure on television.

The dictionary says: "Politics provided further impetus for Ray Fisher's musical career, with performance opportunities at Labour Party socials, Scottish National Party rallies, and anti-Polaris demonstrations organized by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament."

Ishbel MacAskill, born in 1941, was among the most feted Scottish Gaelic singers of her generation.

The Edinburgh-born director, John Mackenzie, born in 1928, began his career in theatre at the city's Gateway Theatre Company and later moved into television drama.

With Peter McDougall, he made three highly acclaimed Glasgow-set films for the BBC's prestigious 'Play for Today' series: Just Another Saturday (1975), The Elephant's Graveyard (1976), and Just a Boy's Game (1979).

He also made A Sense of Freedom (1979) about the Glaswegian gangster Jimmy Boyle.