Sally Barker (born 19 September 1959) is a British singer and songwriter, known for her solo work and as a founding member of

the Poozies The Poozies are a British all-female traditional folk band formed in 1990. They were at the forefront of a wave that revolutionised traditional Scottish and Gaelic music in the 1990s. Throughout the years they have toured worldwide, attract ...

. In 2014, she was a finalist in the

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

talent contest ''

The Voice The Voice may refer to: Fictional entities * The Voice or Presence, a fictional representation of God in DC Comics * The Voice (''Dune''), a fictional ability in the ''Dune'' universe * The Voice, a character in the American TV series ''Cleo ...

'', finishing in joint second place.

Career

Barker was born in

Barrow upon Soar Barrow upon Soar is a large village in northern Leicestershire, in the Soar Valley between Leicester and Loughborough, with a population at the 2011 census of 5,856. Geography Barrow lies on the east bank of the River Soar, where the riv ...

, Leicestershire, England. Between early 1980 and summer 1982, while studying in Loughborough, she joined or formed several rock bands with fellow students. Bands included 'Manitou', 'The Chapter', 'Sally Barker and the Undergraduates' and 'Runway 5'. Most gigs were played in the Students Union building at Loughborough University, but there were some in halls of residence and one at Loughborough Town Hall. Some of these gigs were recorded and The Chapter did one recording session at the

Pebble Mill Studios Pebble Mill Studios was the BBC's television studio complex located in Edgbaston, Birmingham, England, United Kingdom, which served as the headquarters for BBC Birmingham from 1971 until 2004. The nine-acre site was opened by Princess Anne o ...

in Birmingham. During Barker's early career, as a singer-songwriter, she supported acts including Fairport Convention,

Taj Mahal The Taj Mahal (; ) is an Islamic ivory-white marble mausoleum on the right bank of the river Yamuna in the Indian city of Agra. It was commissioned in 1631 by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan () to house the tomb of his favourite wife, Mu ...

, Richard Thompson,

Wishbone Ash Wishbone Ash are a British rock band who achieved success in the early and mid-1970s. Their popular albums included '' Wishbone Ash'' (1970), ''Pilgrimage'' (1971), '' Argus'' (1972), '' Wishbone Four'' (1973), ''There's the Rub'' (1974), and ...

and Roy Harper. Her second release, ''This Rhythm Is Mine'', which also received a US release on Ryko's Hannibal label, marked her maturity as a songwriter. In 1990, Barker became a founding member of

, an all-women folk band. The line-up featured harpists

Mary Macmaster Mary Macmaster (born 22 November 1955, Glasgow, Scotland) is a Scottish harpist and singer. She performs on the clàrsach and the Camac electroharp, and she sings in English and Gaelic. She has worked with Sting, Kathryn Tickell, Norma Waterson ...

and

Patsy Seddon Patsy Seddon is a Scottish harpist, violinist and traditional singer in Scots and Gaelic. Biography Seddon was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. She was a member of leading folk band The Poozies from 1990 until 2012, and the duo Sìleas with Mar ...

from the harp duo Sileas, and

Karen Tweed Karen Tweed (born 1963,'Karen ...

(accordion) who Barker met at a folk festival in Hong Kong. Barker played with the Poozies until 1995, when she left just before the birth of her first child. In 1992, she recorded the song "I Misunderstood" for the CD ''The World Is a Wonderful Place: The Songs of Richard Thompson''. Barker also appeared on the

Show of Hands Show of Hands is an English acoustic roots/ folk duo formed in 1986 by singer-songwriter Steve Knightley (guitars, mandolin, mandocello, cuatro) and composer and multi-instrumentalist Phil Beer (vocals, guitars, violin, viola, mandolin, mando ...

1996 album '' Live at the Royal Albert Hall''. Barker also provided vocals for the 1997

Pete Morton Pete Morton (born 30 July 1964) is an English folk singer-songwriter who lives in London, England. According to ''fRoots'', Morton "is amongst the best that the British roots music scene has produced in living memory."Harris, Craig " Pete Morto ...

CD, ''Courage, Love and Grace'', and the 1998 Janet Russell CD, ''Gathering the Fragments''. In the autumn of 2006, Barker reunited with the Poozies for a series of shows. She subsequently rejoined the group permanently, the first album with this line-up being ''Yellow Like Sunshine'', released in autumn 2009. Starting in November 2008, Barker presented "The Joni Mitchell Project" with piano and dulcimer player Glenn Hughes (and occasionally banjo player Debbie Cassell) in which they performed an evening of Mitchell's songs. An album, ''Conversation: The Joni Tapes (Vol. 1)'' was released in August 2010 with an album launch at the

Edinburgh Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

at the Acoustic Music Centre.

''The Voice''

In January 2014, Barker became a contestant on the

talent contest ''

'', joining Tom Jones' team after a blind audition in which she sang "

Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" is a song written by Bennie Benjamin, Horace Ott and Sol Marcus for the American singer-songwriter and pianist Nina Simone, who recorded the first version in 1964. "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" has been co ...

". In the battle round on 1 March she sang " Dear Darlin'" with Talia Smith and was put through by Jones. In the first of the knock-out rounds, on 15 March, she sang " Walk On By" and in the quarter final, on 22 March, Barker was given a fast pass to the semi-final by Jones, after singing " To Love Somebody". In the semi-final, she sang "

The Whole of the Moon "The Whole of the Moon" is a song by Scottish band the Waterboys, released as a single from their album '' This Is the Sea'' in October 1985. It is a classic of the band's repertoire and has been consistently played at live shows ever since its r ...

" and was voted through to the final. Commenting on his tearful reaction to Barker's performance, Jones said: "Sally it’s lovely to hear you sing. You move me and that’s what happened at auditions. It was so beautiful I couldn’t help myself." In the final, on 5 April 2014, Barker sang Joni Mitchell's "

Both Sides, Now "Both Sides, Now" is a song by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell. First recorded by Judy Collins, it appeared on the US singles chart during the fall of 1968. The next year it was included on Mitchell's album ''Clouds'', and became one of ...

" and duetted with Tom Jones on "

Walking in Memphis "Walking in Memphis" is a song composed and originally recorded by American singer-songwriter Marc Cohn, for whom it remains his signature song. It received a Song of the Year nomination at the 34th Grammy Awards in 1992, the same year that the ...

". Having escaped elimination she reached the final three and sang " Dear Darlin'" again as her final song, but was a runner-up to Jermain Jackman.

Later work

In September 2014, Barker announced a British tour between September and December 2014. In 2015, Barker joined the three surviving members of the folk-rock band

Fotheringay Fotheringay was a short-lived British folk rock group, formed in 1970 by singer-songwriter and musician Sandy Denny on her departure from Fairport Convention. The band drew its name from her 1968 composition " Fotheringay" about Fotheringhay ...

for six tour dates in the UK and, in 2016, provided backing vocals on a new album by Brooks Williams entitled ''My Turn Now''. She also embarked on a solo tour, which concluded in November 2016. In 2017, she supported Fairport Convention on their Win-tour 2017 tour.

Personal life

Barker has two sons, Ben and Dillon. Her husband, Chris Wakeford, died in 2003.

References

External links

Official site
*

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

br>The Joni Mitchell Project
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barker, Sally 1959 births Living people English women guitarists English women singers English folk guitarists English folk musicians English songwriters English women singer-songwriters Fotheringay members Musicians from Leicestershire People from Barrow upon Soar The Poozies members Rykodisc artists The Voice UK contestants