Belinda O'Hooley (born 18 July 1971) is a singer-songwriter and pianist from

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

, England. Formerly a member of

Rachel Unthank and the Winterset Rachel () was a Biblical figure, the favorite of Jacob's two wives, and the mother of Joseph and Benjamin, two of the twelve progenitors of the tribes of Israel. Rachel's father was Laban. Her older sister was Leah, Jacob's first wife. Her aun ...

(now The Unthanks), she now records and performs as O'Hooley & Tidow with her wife Heidi Tidow (pronounced ''Tee-doe'').

Early life and education

O'Hooley, who has Irish roots, was born in

Horsforth Horsforth is a town and civil parish within the City of Leeds, in West Yorkshire, England, lying about five miles north-west of Leeds city centre. Historically a village within the West Riding of Yorkshire, it had a population of 18,895 at the ...

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...

, grew up in

Guiseley Guiseley ( ) is a town in metropolitan borough of the City of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is situated south of Otley and Menston and is now a north-western suburb of Leeds. It sits in th ...

and went to school in

Menston Menston is a village and civil parish in the City of Bradford in the county of West Yorkshire, England. Along with Burley in Wharfedale, most of Menston is within Wharfedale Ward in the metropolitan borough of Bradford. The remainder of M ...

. She studied

behavioural sciences Behavioral sciences explore the cognitive processes within organisms and the behavioral interactions between organisms in the natural world. It involves the systematic analysis and investigation of human and animal behavior through naturalistic ...

at the

University of Huddersfield , mottoeng = Thus not for you alone , established = 1825 – Huddersfield Science and Mechanics' Institute1992 – university status , type = Public , endowment = £2.47 million (2015) , chancellor = George W. Buckley , vice_chancell ...

Professional career

O'Hooley comes from a long line of

County Sligo County Sligo ( , gle, Contae Shligigh) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the Border Region and is part of the province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the an ...

musicians and performed alongside her first cousin Tommy Fleming, a singer who was formerly with De Danann.

Rachel Unthank and the Winterset

From 2004 until 2008 she was a member of Rachel Unthank and the Winterset (now The Unthanks). Nic Oliver, reviewing their 2007 album '' The Bairns'' for '' musicOMH'', described O'Hooley as "the ace in the pack throughout The Bairns. Her background in cabaret (intriguingly, she had once appeared on Stars In Their Eyes impersonating Annie Lennox) adds a left-field edge to the music, with her jazzy piano chords lending a sing-along feel to the live favourite Blue's Gaen Oot O'The Fashion. O'Hooley also contributes the two original tracks to the album, although the casual listener could quite easily mistake both Blackbird and WhitehornThe song is actually called "Whitethorn", as O'Hooley explains in an interview with David Peschek: "It's about my great-grandmother, struggling to survive in a tiny village in Ireland...She was pregnant 15 or 16 times and only two babies survived. Because they hadn't lived long enough to be christened, they weren't buried in the local churchyard, but under a whitethorn bush, actually near where my dad lives now. It really brought home to me the history of women's struggles, and made me want to write."
for traditional songs".

Solo albums

In 2005 O'Hooley released a

solo album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records co ...

, '' Music is My Silence'', described by reviewer David Kidman of Netrhythms.co.uk as "a commanding and defiant set of thoroughly contemporary-sounding songs" and by FATEA as "a highly polished collection of songs that gently sway between folk and jazz". In 2019 she released a second solo album, '' Inversions'', described by Jude Rogers in ''The Guardian'' as "a set of beautiful piano and spoken-word pieces".

O'Hooley & Tidow

She has issued seven albums with Heidi Tidow, performing as O'Hooley & Tidow. Their 2016 album, ''

Shadows A shadow is a dark area where light from a light source is blocked by an opaque object. It occupies all of the three-dimensional volume behind an object with light in front of it. The cross section of a shadow is a two-dimensional silhouette, ...

'', was given a five-starred review by

Robin Denselow Robin Denselow is a British writer, journalist, and broadcaster. Education Denselow was educated at Leighton Park School, a boys' Quaker boarding independent school (now co-educational) in Reading, Berkshire Reading ( ) is a town and borough ...

in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' and four of their other albums have received four-starred reviews in the British national press.

Coven

With Heidi Tidow she performs in the all-female group Coven, whose members also include Hannah James,

Rowan Rheingans Lady Maisery are an English folk vocal harmony trio composed of Hannah James (vocals, piano accordion, clogs, foot percussion), Hazel Askew (vocals, melodeon, concertina, harp, bells) and Rowan Rheingans (vocals, fiddle, banjo, bansit ...

, Hazel Askew and

Grace Petrie Grace Petrie (, born 24 July 1987) is an English folk singer-songwriter and guitarist from Leicester, England. She was hailed in ''The Guardian'' as "a powerful new songwriting voice" in 2011. Biography Grace Petrie began performing in 2006 as ...

. In 2017, Coven released an EP, ''Unholy Choir''.

Other musical contributions

O'Hooley played piano on

Jackie Oates Jackie Oates is an English folk singer and fiddle player. Life Oates was born in Congleton in Cheshire in 1983 but grew up in Staffordshire. At the age of 18, she moved to Devon to study English literature at Exeter University and was based in ...

' albums ''Jackie Oates'' (2006), ''The Violet Hour'' (2008), ''Hyperboreans'' (2009), ''Saturnine'' (2011) and ''Lullabies'' (2013). With Heidi Tidow, she was also featured on Chumbawamba's album '' ABCDEFG'' (2010) and DVD ''Going, Going'' (2012), Lucy Ward's debut album ''

Adelphi Has to Fly ''Adelphi Has to Fly'', the debut album of British singer-songwriter Lucy Ward, was released in the United Kingdom by Navigator Records on 13 June 2011. It was critically acclaimed and received a four-starred review in ''The Guardian''. Lucy W ...

'' (2011) and Patsy Matheson's ''Domino Girls'' (2014). O'Hooley & Tidow were amongst the musicians on the album ''The Ballads of Child Migration: Songs for Britain's Child Migrants'', released by Delphonic Records in October 2015. They contributed the music for one song on the album, "Why Did I Leave Thee?" O'Hooley also accompanied

Nic Jones Nic Jones (born Nicolas Paul Jones; 9 January 1947) is an English singer, songwriter and musician. Regarded as a prominent figure of the British folk revival, he has recorded five solo albums and collaborated with various musicians. Biography ...

at London's Queen Elizabeth Hall on his 2011 comeback tour and on further tours in 2012 and 2013. In 2015 O'Hooley accompanied Jim Boyes on his ''Sensations of a Wound'' tour, telling a little-known story of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. An album of this music, ''Sensations of a Wound: The Long, Long Trail of Robert Riby Boyes'', was released on the No Masters label in February 2015. She appeared on Ray Hearne's album ''Umpteen'' in 2016.

Discography

with Rachel Unthank and the Winterset

Belinda O'Hooley

O'Hooley and Tidow

Belinda O'Hooley's recordings with Heidi Tidow are listed at O'Hooley & Tidow.

with Coven

Personal life

Belinda O'Hooley and her wife Heidi Tidow, who married in 2016, live in

Golcar Golcar (pronounced 'Go Car' or 'Golker') is a village on a hillside crest above the Colne Valley in West Yorkshire, England, west of Huddersfield, and just north of the River Colne and the Huddersfield Narrow Canal. The 2021 population censu ...

in West Yorkshire. They have a son, Flynn, born in September 2019.

Notes

References

External links

Official website: O'Hooley & Tidow
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ohooley, Belinda 1971 births Living people 20th-century LGBT people 21st-century British pianists 21st-century English women musicians 21st-century English women singers 21st-century English singers 21st-century LGBT people Alumni of the University of Huddersfield Composers for piano English women singer-songwriters English folk musicians English people of Irish descent English women pianists British lesbian musicians English LGBT musicians British LGBT singers LGBT songwriters Musicians from Leeds People from Golcar People from Guiseley People from Horsforth 21st-century women pianists