James Fagan (born 1972) is an Australian-born

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

ian. He is a singer and multi-instrumentalist specialising in the

Irish bouzouki The Irish bouzouki () is an adaptation of the Greek bouzouki (Greek: μπουζούκι). The newer Greek ''tetrachordo'' bouzouki (4 courses of strings) was introduced into Irish traditional music in the mid-1960s by Johnny Moynihan of th ...

. From the early 1980s he toured in a family band, the Fagans. He began travelling to England in 1995, where he met and began working with English folk musician,

Nancy Kerr Nancy Kerr (born 1975) is an English folk musician and songwriter, specialising in the fiddle and singing. She is a Principal Lecturer in Folk Music at Leeds Conservatoire and Newcastle University. She was the 2015 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards "Folk ...

. The couple married in 2007 in Bath.

Biography

Born in Canberra in 1972, James Fagan was the first child of local folk singers Bob and Margaret Fagan. They, James and his sister

Kate Kate name may refer to: People and fictional characters * Kate (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or nickname * Gyula Káté (born 1982), Hungarian amateur boxer * Lauren Kate (born 1981), American autho ...

formed the Fagans, and have toured the Australian folk scene since the early 1980s. James’s first instrument was piano. By his teens, he was singing, playing guitar, and playing the clarinet. In 1994, he joined

Alistair Hulett Alistair Hulett (15 October 1951 – 28 January 2010) was a Scottish people, Scottish acoustic music, acoustic folk music, folk singer best known as the singer of the folk punk band, Roaring Jack. Early life Born in Glasgow, Hulett discovered tr ...

's backing band, the Hooligans, which included Jimmy Gregory who introduced him to the guitar-shaped,

which is now his main instrument. Singing remains his first and foremost musical love. He completed his medical training in 1995 and was on holiday in England when he met

. They formed a duo which has become the mainstay of their career. Fagan is well respected in his own right on the UK music scene – his other projects include being a member of The

Cara Dillon Cara Elizabeth Dillon (born 21 July 1975, in Dungiven, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland) is a Northern Irish folk singer. In 1995, she joined the folk supergroup Equation and signed a record deal with Warners Music Group. After leaving t ...

Band, Melrose Quartet (with Nancy Kerr, Richard Arrowsmith and Jess Arrowsmith) and heavy metal English Ceilidh band The Glorystrokes. He has also toured as part of

Bellowhead Bellowhead is an English contemporary folk band, active from 2004 to 2016, reforming in 2020. The eleven-piece act played traditional dance tunes, folk songs and shanties, with arrangements drawing inspiration from a wide range of musical style ...

. James also works in a duo called The James Brothers, with Jamie McClennan, the New Zealand fiddle player and partner of Scottish folk singer Emily Smith. Fagan is best known for his work with Nancy Kerr whom he married in 2007, and with whom he won

BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards The BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards celebrate outstanding achievement during the previous year within the field of folk music, with the aim of raising the profile of folk and acoustic music. The awards have been given annually since 2000 by British ra ...

'Best Duo' in both 2003 and 2011. Together they have released seven albums: ''Starry Gazy Pie'' (1997), ''Scalene'' (with

Sandra Kerr Sandra Kerr (born 14 February 1942, Plaistow, Essex) is an English folk singer. Kerr sings and plays English concertina, guitar, Appalachian dulcimer and autoharp. She was a member of The Critics Group from 1963–1972. With John Faulkner, she ...

) (1998), ''Steely Water'' (1999), ''Between The Dark and Light'' (2002), ''Strands of Gold'' (2006), ''Twice Reflected Sun'' (2010), and ''An Evening with Nancy Kerr and James Fagan - LIVE'' (2019). In 2008 Nancy and James were joined by concertina player Robert Harbron to form the trio "Kerr Fagan Harbron", recording and touring the album ''Station House''. In 2010 Nancy and James formed Melrose Quartet with Sheffield duo Richard and Jess Arrowsmith. Melrose Quartet was nominated for Best Group at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2014. Fagan is part of his wife

's Sweet Visitor Band, playing on the CDs

Sweet Visitor ''Sweet Visitor'' is an album by the English singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Nancy Kerr, which was released by Little Dish Records in 2014. Allmusic Review: ''Sweet Visitor''accessed 1 March 2015. Reception In a review of ''Sweet Vis ...

(2014) and Instar (2016). Since 2014 Fagan has been a regular presenter on his local community radio station Sheffield Live hosting the two hour Friday morning folk show Thank Goodness It's Folk.

Selected discography

* ''Heat, Light and Sound'' (1996) – with

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 care ...

* ''Starry Gazy Pie'' (1997) – with

* ''Scalene'' (1998) – with

* ''Steely Water'' (1999) – with Nancy Kerr * ''Between The Dark and Light'' (2002) – with Nancy Kerr * ''Turning Fine'' (2004) – with The Fagans * ''Strands of Gold'' (2006) – with Nancy Kerr * ''Station House'' (2008) – with Nancy Kerr and Robert Harbron * ''Milk and Honey Land'' (2009) – with The Fagans * ''Twice Reflected Sun'' (2010) – with Nancy Kerr * ''Fifty Verses'' (2013) – with Melrose Quartet * ''

'' (2014) – with Nancy Kerr * ''The James Brothers'' (2015) – with Jamie McClennan * ''Instar'' (2016) (LiDiCD002) - with Nancy Kerr * ''Dominion'' (2017) (with Melrose Quartet) (MQCD03) * ''An Evening With Nancy Kerr & James Fagan'' (2019) (LiDiCD003)

References

External links

Kerr Fagan Myspace The Fagans Official siteKerr Fagan Harbron Official siteMelrose QuartetJames Brothers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fagan, James 1972 births Living people Australian folk musicians Australian folk singers Bouzouki players Musicians from Sydney Place of birth missing (living people) 21st-century Australian singers 21st-century Australian male singers