Kirsty MacColl

Kirsty Anna MacColl (10 October 1959 – 18 December 2000) was a British singer and songwriter, daughter of folk singer Ewan MacColl. She recorded several pop hits in the 1980s and 1990s, including "There's a Guy Works Down the Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis" and cover versions of Billy Bragg's "A New England" and The Kinks' "Days." Her song " They Don't Know" was covered with great success by Tracey Ullman. MacColl also sang on recordings produced by her then-husband Steve Lillywhite, most notably "Fairytale of New York" by The Pogues. Her death in 2000 has led to the Justice for Kirsty campaign.

Early life and career

Kirsty MacColl was the daughter of folk singer Ewan MacColl (1915–1989) and dancer Jean Newlove (1923–2017). Her father was born in England of Scottish parents. MacColl and her older brother, Hamish MacColl, grew up with their mother in Croydon, where she attended Park Hill Primary School, Monks Hill High School and John Newnham High School, making appearances in school plays. At the time of her birth, her father had been in a relationship with folk singer, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Peggy Seeger since 1956 (a relationship that would continue until his death in 1989), and already had a son with her.

She came to notice when Chiswick Records released an EP by local punk rock band the Drug Addix (originally called Tooting Fruities) with MacColl on backing vocals (''The Drug Addix Make A Record'') under the pseudonym Mandy Doubt (1978). Stiff Records executives were not impressed with the band, but liked her and subsequently signed her to a solo deal.

1979–1986

Her debut solo single " They Don't Know", released in 1979, peaked at number two on the Music Week airplay chart. However, a distributors' strike prevented copies of the single getting into record stores, and the single consequently failed to appear on the UK Singles Chart.

MacColl recorded a follow-up single, " You Caught Me Out", but felt she lacked Stiff Records's full backing, and left the label shortly before the song was to be released. The single was pulled, and only a few "white label" promo copies of the single are known to exist.

MacColl moved to Polydor Records in 1981. She had a number 14 UK hit with "There's a Guy Works Down the Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis", from her critically acclaimed debut album '' Desperate Character''. In 1983, Polydor dropped her just as she had completed recording the songs for a planned second album (to be called ''Real'') which used more synthesizers and had new wave-styled tracks. She returned to Stiff, where pop singles such as "Terry" and " He's on the Beach" were unsuccessful, but a cover of Billy Bragg's "A New England" in 1985 reached number 7 on the UK charts. This included two extra verses specially written for her by Bragg. Also around this time, MacColl wrote and performed the theme song "London Girls" for Channel 4's short-lived sitcom ''Dream Stuffing'' (1984).

In the United States, MacColl was most likely recognisable as the writer of "They Don't Know", when Tracey Ullman turned it into a ''Billboard'' Top Ten hit. Ullman's version reached No. 8 on the US Hot 100 in April 1984 (and did even better in the UK, hitting No. 2 in September 1983). MacColl also sang back-up on the track, providing the "Baay-byy" because it was too high a pitch for Ullman. It was played over the closing credits of Ullman's HBO show ''Tracey Takes On''... in 1996. Ullman also recorded three more of MacColl's songs, "You Broke My Heart In 17 Places" and "You Caught Me Out", as the title tracks of her first and second albums respectively, and "Terry" which was released as a single in 1985.

In 1986, she contributed backing vocals for the Smiths song "Ask". Kirsty contributed backing vocals to the Simple Minds 1984 album, ''Sparkle in the Rain''. Her vocals can be heard on the tracks "Speed Your Love to Me" and "Street Hassle".

Chart re-emergence

When Stiff Records went bankrupt in 1986, MacColl was left unable to record in her own right, as no record company bought her contract from the official receiver. However, she had regular session work as a backing vocalist, and she frequently sang on records produced or engineered by her husband, Steve Lillywhite, including tracks for Robert Plant, the Smiths, Alison Moyet, Shriekback, Simple Minds, Talking Heads, Big Country, Anni-Frid Lyngstad (of ABBA) and the Wonder Stuff, among others. She appeared in the videos "Welcome to the Cheap Seats" for the Wonder Stuff and "(Nothing But) Flowers" for Talking Heads (along with Johnny Marr, ex-member of the Smiths). MacColl also set the track sequencing for U2's acclaimed breakthrough album ''The Joshua Tree'', for which Lillywhite provided mixes.

MacColl re-emerged in the British charts in December 1987, reaching number 2 with the Pogues on "Fairytale of New York", singing a duet with Shane MacGowan. This led to her accompanying the Pogues on their British and European tour in 1988, an experience which she said helped her temporarily overcome her stage fright. In March 1989, MacColl sang backing vocals on the Happy Mondays' ''Hallelujah'' EP.

After the contract issue was resolved, MacColl returned to recording as a solo artist and received critical acclaim upon the release of ''Kite'' (LP) in 1989. The album was widely praised by critics, and featured collaborations with David Gilmour and Johnny Marr. MacColl's lyrics addressed life in Margaret Thatcher's Britain and addressed the vagaries of love in "Don't Come the Cowboy with Me Sonny Jim!". Although ''Kite'' contained many original compositions, MacColl's biggest chart success from the album was the cover of the Kinks' song "Days", which gave her a UK top 20 hit in July 1989. A bonus track on the CD version of ''Kite'' was a cover of the Smiths song "You Just Haven't Earned It Yet, Baby".

During this time, MacColl featured on the British TV sketch comedy ''French and Saunders'', appearing as herself, singing songs including "15 Minutes" and "Don't Come the Cowboy with Me Sonny Jim!" (from ''Kite''), "Still Life" (the B-side of the "Days" single), "Girls on Bikes" (a reworking of B-side "Am I Right?") and, with comedy duo Raw Sex, the Frank and Nancy Sinatra hit "Somethin' Stupid". She continued to write and record, releasing the album '' Electric Landlady'' in 1991. The album's title was coined by Johnny Marr as a play on the Jimi Hendrix album title ''Electric Ladyland''. It included her most successful chart hit in North America, "Walking Down Madison", co-written with Marr and a top 30 hit in the UK. Despite the song's U.S. chart success, ''Landlady'' was not a hit for Virgin Records and in 1992, when Virgin was sold to EMI, MacColl was dropped from the label.

Later work

MacColl released ''Titanic Days'', informed by her failing marriage with Lillywhite, in 1993, but ZTT Records had agreed only to release the album as a "one-off" and declined to sign her to a contract. In 1995, she released two new singles on Virgin, " Caroline" and a cover of Lou Reed's " Perfect Day" (a duet with Evan Dando), together with the "best of" compilation '' Galore''.

''Galore'' became MacColl's only album to reach the top 10 in the UK Albums Chart, but neither of the new singles, nor a re-released "Days", made the Top 40. MacColl did not record again for several years; her frustration with the music business was exacerbated by a lengthy case of writer's block. MacColl herself admitted that she was ready to give up her music career and become an English teacher in South America.

In 1998, the album '' What Do Pretty Girls Do?'' was released, containing BBC Radio 1 live sessions (featuring Billy Bragg on two songs) that were broadcast between 1989 and 1995.

After several trips to Cuba and Brazil, MacColl recorded the world music-inspired (particularly Cuban and other Latin American forms) ''Tropical Brainstorm'', which was released in 2000 to critical acclaim. It included the song " In These Shoes?", which garnered airplay in the U.S., was covered by Bette Midler and featured in the HBO show ''Sex and the City''. After MacColl's death it was adopted by Catherine Tate as the theme tune for her BBC
...