Anne Patricia Briggs (born 29 September 1944) is an English

folk singer Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be c ...

. Although she travelled widely in the 1960s and early 1970s, appearing at

folk club A folk club is a regular event, permanent venue, or section of a venue devoted to folk music and traditional music. Folk clubs were primarily an urban phenomenon of 1960s and 1970s Great Britain and Ireland, and vital to the second British folk r ...

s and venues in England and

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, she never aspired to commercial success or to achieve widespread public acknowledgment of her music. However, she was an influential figure in the

British folk revival The British folk revival incorporates a number of movements for the collection, preservation and performance of folk music in the United Kingdom and related territories and countries, which had origins as early as the 18th century. It is particul ...

, being a source of songs and musical inspiration for others such as A. L. Lloyd,

Bert Jansch Herbert Jansch (3 November 1943 – 5 October 2011) was a Scottish folk musician and founding member of the band Pentangle. He was born in Glasgow and came to prominence in London in the 1960s as an acoustic guitarist and singer-songwriter ...

Jimmy Page James Patrick Page (born 9 January 1944) is an English musician who achieved international success as the guitarist and founder of the rock band Led Zeppelin. Page is prolific in creating guitar riffs. His style involves various alternative ...

The 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 fam ...

June Tabor June Tabor (born 31 December 1947 in Warwick, England) is an English folk singer known for her solo work and her earlier collaborations with Maddy Prior and with Oysterband. Early life June Tabor was born and grew up in Warwick, England. As ...

Sandy Denny Alexandra Elene MacLean Denny (6 January 1947 – 21 April 1978) was an English singer who was lead singer of the British folk rock band Fairport Convention. She has been described as "the pre-eminent British folk rock singer". After briefly w ...

, Richard Thompson, and

Maddy Prior Madelaine Edith Prior MBE (born 14 August 1947) is an English folk singer, best known as the lead vocalist of Steeleye Span. She was born in Blackpool and moved to St Albans in her teens. Her father, Allan Prior, was co-creator of the police dr ...

Early life

Briggs was born in

Toton Toton is a large village in the Borough of Broxtowe, Nottinghamshire, England. The electoral ward of Toton and Chilwell Meadows population of this ward was 7,298 in the 2001 census. It increased to 8,238 at the 2011 census. Until 1974 Toton ...

Beeston, Nottinghamshire Beeston is a town in the Borough of Broxtowe, Nottinghamshire, England, south-west of Nottingham city centre. To its north-east is the University of Nottingham's main campus, University Park. The pharmaceutical and retail chemist group Boots h ...

, England. Her mother died of tuberculosis when she was young. Her father, Albert, was severely injured in World War II and she was raised in Toton by her aunt Hilda and uncle Bill, who also brought up Hilda's youngest sister Beryl, and their own daughter Betty. In 1959, she hitch-hiked with a friend to

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

. They stayed overnight with

Archie Fisher Archie Macdonald Fisher (born 23 October 1939) is a Scottish folk singer and songwriter. He has released several solo albums since his first, eponymous album, in 1968. Fisher composed the song "The Final Trawl", recorded on the album ''Windwa ...

, who was at that time prominent in the revival of folk music in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, and through him she met

, who had just begun to compose his own songs. Jansch and Briggs had an instant rapport and were an influence on each other for several years. In 1962, the

Trades Union Congress The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is a national trade union centre A national trade union center (or national center or central) is a federation or confederation of trade unions in a country. Nearly every country in the world has a national tra ...

passed Resolution 42, concerned with developing cultural activities outside

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. To implement this resolution, playwright

Arnold Wesker Sir Arnold Wesker (24 May 1932 – 12 April 2016) was an English dramatist. He was the author of 50 plays, four volumes of short stories, two volumes of essays, much journalism and a book on the subject, a children's book, some poetry, and oth ...

was appointed as the leader, with

Ewan MacColl James Henry Miller (25 January 1915 – 22 October 1989), better known by his stage name Ewan MacColl, was a folk singer-songwriter, folk song collector, labour activist and actor. Born in England to Scottish parents, he is known as one of the ...

and A. L. "Bert" Lloyd heavily involved, and Charles Parker on production. Calling themselves

Centre 42 Sir Arnold Wesker (24 May 1932 – 12 April 2016) was an English dramatist. He was the author of 50 plays, four volumes of short stories, two volumes of essays, much journalism and a book on the subject, a children's book, some poetry, and oth ...

, they organised a tour around Britain, hoping to involve local talent at each stop. At

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

, MacColl heard Briggs singing "Let No Man Steal Your Thyme" and " She Moves Through the Fair" and promptly invited her to perform on stage that night. She became a full member of the tour and recorded the same two songs on an album recorded live in Edinburgh later that year. Briggs decided to leave home, just four weeks short of her eighteenth birthday. Centre 42 gave her an administrative job in their offices, liaising with

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

s and galleries. She soon acquired the contacts she needed to pursue her own musical career.

Beginnings of folk music career

Briggs attended a folk song club in Nottingham between 1960 and 1962 run by Joy and Eric Foxley in their flat near the Nottingham Goose Fair site. Briggs visited the main British

s which were then becoming well known such as

The Troubadour (London) The Troubadour is a nightclub, restaurant and pub located at 265 Old Brompton Road, Earls Court, London. Established in 1954, it is one of the oldest and last remaining nightclubs and coffee houses of its era in London. It still offers live ...

and The Scots Hoose, as well as various Irish music venues. At this time, the emphasis at such venues was on instrumental folk music, and singing was regarded as merely a pause between tunes. A young

Christy Moore Christopher Andrew "Christy" Moore (born 7 May 1945) is an Irish folk singer, songwriter and guitarist. In addition to his significant success as an individual, he is one of the founding members of Planxty and Moving Hearts. His first album, ...

heard her and was inspired to give more emphasis, in his own music, to singing rather than playing jigs. Briggs and Jansch lived together in a squat in

Earl's Court Earl's Court is a district of Kensington in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in West London, bordering the rail tracks of the West London line and District line that separate it from the ancient borough of Fulham to the west, the ...

before moving together to a house in Somali Road, London, where

John Renbourn John Renbourn (8 August 1944 – 26 March 2015) was an English guitarist and songwriter. He was best known for his collaboration with guitarist Bert Jansch as well as his work with the folk group Pentangle, although he maintained a solo care ...

lived, and

The Young Tradition The Young Tradition were an English folk group of the 1960s, formed by Peter Bellamy, Royston Wood and Heather Wood. They recorded three albums of mainly traditional British folk music, sung in arrangements for their three unaccompanied voices. ...

also lived for a time. Jansch and Briggs had some resemblance to each other and were often mistaken for brother and sister. It was Briggs who taught Jansch the traditional song " Blackwaterside" which he recorded on his '' Jack Orion'' album in 1966.

First recordings

Briggs began her recording career by contributing two songs to a thematic album, ''The Iron Muse'', released by

Topic Records Topic Records is a British folk music label, which played a major role in the second British folk revival. It began as an offshoot of the Workers' Music Association in 1939, making it the oldest independent record label in the world.M. Brocken, ...

in 1963. MacColl and Bert Lloyd sang on the tracks, and Ray Fisher made a brief appearance singing along with Briggs. An EP ''

The Hazards of Love ''The Hazards of Love'' is the fifth album by the American indie rock band The Decemberists, released through Capitol Records and Rough Trade in 2009. The album was inspired by an Anne Briggs EP titled '' The Hazards of Love''. According to the ...

'' was recorded in 1963. It was an early inspiration for both

and

. At about this time, Briggs entered a relationship with a Scotsman known as "Gary the archer," who proved to be violently abusive. She was rescued from this relationship by

Hamish Henderson Hamish Scott Henderson (11 November 1919 – 9 March 2002) was a Scottish poet, songwriter, communist, intellectual and soldier. He was a catalyst for the folk revival in Scotland. He was also an accomplished folk song collector and disc ...

, who accidentally met her and invited her to join

Louis Killen Louisa "Lou" Jo Killen (born Louis Killen; 10 January 1934 – 9 August 2013) was an English folk singer from Gateshead, Tyneside, who also played the English concertina. Killen formed one of Britain's first folk clubs in 1958 in Newcastle upon ...

Dave Swarbrick David Cyril Eric Swarbrick (5 April 1941 – 3 June 2016) was an English folk musician and singer-songwriter. His style has been copied or developed by almost every British and many world folk violin players who have followed him. He was ...

and

Frankie Armstrong Frankie Armstrong (born 13 January 1941) is an English singer and voice teacher. She has worked as a singer in the folk scene and the women's movement and as a trainer in social and youth work. Her repertoire ranges from traditional ballads to m ...

for a recording project. This resulted in the album called ''The Bird in The Bush''.

Johnny Moynihan

While touring England,

The Dubliners The Dubliners were an Folk music of Ireland, Irish folk band founded in Dublin in 1962 as The Ronnie Drew Ballad Group, named after its founding member; they subsequently renamed themselves The Dubliners. The line-up saw many changes in personn ...

met Briggs and thought she would be the perfect musical partner for

Johnny Moynihan John Moynihan (born 29 October 1946, Phibsboro) is an Irish folk singer, based in Dublin. He is often credited with introducing the bouzouki into Irish music in the mid-1960s. Music career Sweeney's Men Known as "The Bard of Dalymount", he w ...

, a folk singer they knew in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

. In 1965 she went with them to

and for the next four years she spent her summers there, travelling by horse-drawn cart and singing in pub sessions. During the winter months she earned money by touring English folk clubs. Her time in Ireland introduced her to the solo

sean-nós singing Sean-nós singing ( , ; Irish for "old style") is unaccompanied traditional Irish vocal music usually performed in the Irish language. Sean-nós singing usually involves very long melodic phrases with highly ornamented and melismatic melodic ...

heard in the songs of Irish folk artists, and this was an influence on her later singing style, when blended with the elements of traditional English music which she had already taken up. Briggs was notoriously wild at this time. There are many stories from this period about her, such as pushing Moynihan and Andy Irvine out of a hay loft and, on another occasion, jumping into the sea at Malin Head, Donegal to chase seals. In an episode of ''

Folk Britannia ''Britannia'' is a series of television documentaries by BBC Four that began in 2005. The documentaries mostly deal with the evolution of a music genre or other aspect of musical culture over a period of several decades within the United King ...

'' (a documentary history of UK folk music aired in 2006) Richard Thompson recalled that he only ever encountered Briggs twice and on both occasions she was drunk and unconscious. Her attendance at bookings was so erratic that it was said she turned up only five times between mid-1963 and early 1965. In 1966, Moynihan and Irvine formed

Sweeney's Men Sweeney's Men was an Irish traditional band. They emerged from the mid-1960s Irish roots revival, along with groups such as The Dubliners and the Clancy Brothers. The founding line-up in May 1966 was Johnny Moynihan, Andy Irvine and "Galway J ...

. Briggs joined them on tours and learned to play the

bouzouki The bouzouki (, also ; el, μπουζούκι ; alt. pl. ''bouzoukia'', from Greek ), also spelled buzuki or buzuci, is a musical instrument popular in Greece. It is a member of the long-necked lute family, with a round body with a flat top and ...

, at that time a rare instrument in Britain and Ireland. She wrote "Living by the Water", which was to appear on her 1971 album, accompanying herself on the instrument.

Reluctant star

The folk-rock impresario Jo Lustig signed up Pentangle in 1968 and a couple of years later took on Briggs. Briggs performed along with the folk-rock group COB (Clive's Original Band) at the

Royal Festival Hall The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,700-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge, in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is a Grade I l ...

in 1971. In the same year, she recorded an album, ''Anne Briggs'', which was released by Topic. It consisted mostly of Briggs singing traditional unaccompanied songs, but Moynihan plays bouzouki on one track. Later that same year, a second album, ''The Time Has Come'', was released on CBS where she performed her own songs, accompanied by acoustic guitar. The album includes Moynihan's song, "Standing on the Shore," previously recorded by

. The

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...

Early life

Beginnings of folk music career

First recordings

Johnny Moynihan

Reluctant star

Influence

Discography

Solo albums

Collaborations

References

Further reading

External links