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Watersons
The Watersons were an English folk group from Hull, Yorkshire. They performed mainly traditional songs with little or no accompaniment. Their distinctive sound came from their closely woven harmonies. They have been called the "most famous family in English folk music". Style Their style is a unique blend of originality and tradition. The Watersons never learned to read music. They began by singing hunting songs, hymns and carols with their grandmother, ones that she probably sang with her parents. One family member would sing the melody, and the rest would join in, choosing a harmony note if the melody was out of their range. Their style can be compared to the Copper Family of Sussex, a dynasty of traditional singers who sing in harmony, which was extremely unusual in traditional English music. Career The band's original members were Norma, Mike, and Elaine known as Lal Waterson, with their cousin John Harrison from Kingston High School. They had a skiffle band in the ea ...
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Norma Waterson
Norma Christine Waterson (15 August 1939 – 30 January 2022) was an English singer and songwriter, best known as one of the original members of The Watersons, a celebrated English traditional folk group. Other members of the group included her brother Mike Waterson and sister Lal Waterson, a cousin John Harrison and, in later incarnations of the group, her husband Martin Carthy. Waterson was known as the "matriarch of the royal family of British folk music." Early life Waterson was born in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, and, after being orphaned at an early age, was brought up there, with her brother Mike and sister Lal, by their maternal grandmother, Eliza Ward, who ran a second-hand shop during the Second World War, and who was of Irish Gypsy descent. She said her grandmother was "a lovely singer and knew a lot of parlour ballads and musical songs she had learned from her childhood, and we all used to sing them." They had an uncle who played lead cornet as a young m ...
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Martin Carthy
Martin Carthy MBE (born 21 May 1941) is an English folk singer and guitarist who has remained one of the most influential figures in British traditional music, inspiring contemporaries such as Bob Dylan and Paul Simon, and later artists such as Richard Thompson, since he emerged as a young musician in the early days of the folk revival in the UK during the 1960s and 1970s. Early life He was born in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England, and grew up in Hampstead, North West London. His mother was an active socialist and his father, from a family of Thames lightermen, went to grammar school and became a trade unionist and a councillor for Stepney at the age of 21. Martin's father had played fiddle and guitar as a young man but Martin was unaware of this connection to his folk music heritage until much later in life. His vocal and musical training began when he became a chorister at the Queen's Chapel of The Savoy. He picked up his father's old guitar for the first time afte ...
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Mike Waterson
Michael Waterson (17 January 1941 – 22 June 2011) was an English writer, songwriter and folk singer. Biography Waterson was born in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. After being orphaned at an early age, he was brought up there, with his sisters Norma and Lal, by their maternal grandmother, Eliza Ward, who ran a second-hand shop during the second world war, and who was of Irish Gypsy descent. He is best known as a member of The Watersons, with his sisters Lal Waterson and Norma Waterson and originally with their cousin John Harrison and later with his brother-in-law Martin Carthy. In the 1968–1972 interval between the two incarnations of The Watersons, he and his sister Lal recorded the album ''Bright Phoebus''. He and Lal were also part of the original Albion Country Band on the album ''No Roses'' with Shirley Collins. He also released a solo album, simply called ''Mike Waterson'', in 1977. " Tamlyn" from the album is track eight on the first CD of the Topic Rec ...
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Three Score And Ten
''Three Score and Ten: A Voice to the People'' is a multi-CD box set album issued by Topic Records in 2009 to celebrate 70 years as an independent British record label. The album consists of a hardback book containing the seven CDs and a paper insert detailing the Topic release list, complemented by a card insert to balance the release list. The boxed set provides examples of recordings from the beginning of the label in 1939. Topic Records headlines their web site as ''Traditional and Contemporary Folk from the British Isles'' but in its history many other genres have appeared on the label. The album provides many examples including tracks from British Music Hall, blues, roots and World Music amongst others. The album was curated, researched and produced by David Suff of Fledg'ling Records. Promotion David Suff gave an interview to Simon Holland for Properganda on 27 July which included details of the research and length of time involved in compiling the boxed set. Simon ...
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Blue Murder (folk)
Blue Murder is an occasional English folk supergroup, consisting at various times of various members of Swan Arcade, Coope Boyes and Simpson, Waterson–Carthy and The Watersons. Dave and Heather Brady and Jim Boyes of Swan Arcade and The Watersons' Norma and Lal Waterson gathered at Whitby Folk Week in August 1986 for a charity concert for the benefit of the local school. The ensemble, probably performing as The Boggle Hole Chorale, performed at the Festival's final ceilidh. In 1987, Ian Anderson invited The Watersons and Swan Arcade to appear at Bracknell Festival, separately and together. The collective group was named "Blue Murder" by Martin Carthy. The line up for the festival was: Martin Carthy, with Norma, Lal, Rachel and Mike Waterson, plus Heather Brady, Dave Brady and Jim Boyes. This version of Blue Murder performed in 1987 and 1988 at Wath upon Dearne in South Yorkshire, at The Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, at a variety of British festivals, and at the Bro ...
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Waterson–Carthy
Waterson:Carthy were an English folk group originally comprising Norma Waterson on vocals, her husband Martin Carthy on guitar and vocals and their daughter Eliza Carthy on fiddle and vocals. They have a repertoire of predominantly British traditional songs and tunes but also occasionally perform contemporary songs from various sources. Their instrumentation is based largely around Martin Carthy's guitar, Eliza Carthy's fiddle and the melodeons of Saul Rose (1996–2000 and 2007-date) and Tim Van Eyken (2000–2007) with other instruments regularly augmenting their recordings. The group also continue the strong unaccompanied vocal tradition established by Norma and Martin's previous family group The Watersons, from whom they are widely considered to have evolved. The group's first album ''Waterson:Carthy'' (1994) was performed largely as a trio, with notable contributions from Eliza's musical partner Nancy Kerr. Their second album ''Common Tongue'' (1996) featured a more diverse ...
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Lal Waterson
Elaine "Lal" Waterson (15 February 1943 – 4 September 1998) was an English folksinger and songwriter. She sang with, among others, The Watersons, The Waterdaughters and Blue Murder. She was born in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire. In 1998, she died suddenly in Robin Hood's Bay, of cancer diagnosed only ten days before. "Lal Waterson's voice was stark but captivating, her songs lyrically ambitious and melodically powerful." Lal Waterson was the sister of Norma Waterson and Mike Waterson, the aunt of Eliza Carthy, and the sister-in-law of Martin Carthy. She was survived by her husband of 30 years, George Knight, and her two children, Oliver Knight and Maria Gilhooley, with both of whom she had recorded albums. Biography Lal, Norma, and Mike Waterson were orphans and brought up by their grandmother who was of part gypsy descent. Always very close, they began singing together, with cousin John Harrison, in the 1950s, with Lal 'singing unexpected harmonies.' Having opened thei ...
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Swan Arcade
Swan Arcade were a British folk music vocal group formed in 1970. "A leading light of the British folk revival" they sang a wide variety of songs, including blues, pop and rock and roll, as well as traditional folk music, mostly performed a cappella. Swan Arcade also performed with The Watersons as the Boggle Hole Chorale, and The Watersons and Martin Carthy as Blue Murder. They finally disbanded in 1988, but one of their members, Jim Boyes, still performs as part of Coope Boyes and Simpson. Formation The group was formed in Yorkshire in 1970 by Dave Brady (b Dave Christopher Bradley, 12 August 1943 at Ilkley, Yorkshire) his wife, Heather Brady (née Johnston b Heather Margaret Johnston, 13 June 1943 at Dagenham) and bass vocalist Jim Boyes (b 14 November 1945 at Bridlington, Yorkshire) Despite having lost an arm in a motorcycle accident, Dave Brady also played concertina, by holding it between his knees, and also played synthesiser and bass. Heather Brady played dulcimer and ...
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Eliza Carthy
Eliza Amy Forbes Carthy, MBE (born 23 August 1975) is an English folk musician known for both singing and playing the fiddle. She is the daughter of English folk musicians singer/guitarist Martin Carthy and singer Norma Waterson. Life and career Carthy was born in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England. She went to school at Fyling Hall School in North Yorkshire. She grew up on a family farm along with her maternal aunt and uncle's families who lived adjacent. At thirteen, Carthy formed the Waterdaughters with her mother, aunt ( Lal Waterson) and cousin Marry Waterson. She has subsequently worked with Nancy Kerr, with her parents as Waterson–Carthy, and as part of the "supergroup" Blue Murder, in addition to her own solo work. When she was 13, Carthy joined the Goathland Plough Stots as a fiddle player. She left school at 17 for a career as a professional touring musician. She has twice been nominated for the Mercury Music Prize for UK album of the year: in 1998 for ' ...
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Maria Gilhooley
Maria Gilhooley (née Knight), who records under the name Marry Waterson, is a singer, songwriter and visual artist. A member of the Waterson-Knight-Carthy family musical dynasty, Waterson is described as having "thrived on communal music making while developing highly original and distinctly English performance styles of erown." Early life and Waterson family Waterson is the daughter of Lal Waterson and George Knight and was born in the city of Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire. She made her recording debut as a guest on the album '' A True Hearted Girl'' by Lal and Norma Waterson in 1977. In 1988 she formed an occasional singing partnership with her mother Lal, aunt Norma and cousin Eliza Carthy under the name The Waterdaughters. She has since been a guest performer on numerous Watersons and Waterson–Carthy recordings and has often performed live with her family at festivals and special performances. Later musical career On 12 May 2007, Waterson appeared with the Waterson fam ...
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Albert Lancaster Lloyd
Albert Lancaster Lloyd (29 February 1908 – 29 September 1982),Eder, Bruce. (29 September 1982A. L. Lloyd - Music Biography, Credits and Discography AllMusic. Retrieved on 2013-02-24. usually known as A. L. Lloyd or Bert Lloyd, was an English folk singer and collector of folk songs, and as such was a key figure in the British folk revival of the 1950s and 1960s. While Lloyd is most widely known for his work with British folk music, he had a keen interest in the music of Spain, Latin America, Southeastern Europe and Australia. He recorded at least six discs of Australian Bush ballads and folk music. Lloyd also helped establish the folk music subgenre of industrial folk music through his books, recordings, collecting and theoretical writings. Early life Lloyd was born in Wandsworth, London, England. His father was an AA Patrolman and failed smallholder. His mother sang songs around the house and according to Lloyd mimicked the gypsy singers that she had heard. By the age of fif ...
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Kingston Upon Hull
Kingston upon Hull, usually abbreviated to Hull, is a port city and unitary authority in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It lies upon the River Hull at its confluence with the Humber Estuary, inland from the North Sea and south-east of York, the historic county town. With a population of (), it is the fourth-largest city in the Yorkshire and the Humber region after Leeds, Sheffield and Bradford. The town of Wyke on Hull was founded late in the 12th century by the monks of Meaux Abbey as a port from which to export their wool. Renamed ''Kings-town upon Hull'' in 1299, Hull had been a market town, military supply port, trading centre, fishing and whaling centre and industrial metropolis. Hull was an early theatre of battle in the English Civil Wars. Its 18th-century Member of Parliament, William Wilberforce, took a prominent part in the abolition of the slave trade in Britain. More than 95% of the city was damaged or destroyed in the blitz and suffere ...
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