Dorothy Ann Collins (6 March 1933 – 22 September 1995
), was an
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
folk
Folk or Folks may refer to:
Sociology
*Nation
*People
* Folklore
** Folk art
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musician, arranger and composer. She was the older sister of
Shirley Collins
Shirley Elizabeth Collins MBE (born 5 July 1935) is an English folk singer who was a significant contributor to the English Folk Revival of the 1960s and 1970s. She often performed and recorded with her sister Dolly, whose accompaniment on ...
.
Born in
Hastings
Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England,
east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...
,
Sussex (now
East Sussex), she grew up in an artistic, socialist, folk singing family. She learned the
piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...
at school, and then studied with composer
Alan Bush
Alan Dudley Bush (22 December 1900 – 31 October 1995) was a British composer, pianist, conductor, teacher and political activist. A committed communist, his uncompromising political beliefs were often reflected in his music. He composed pro ...
while taking odd jobs in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...
, including working as a
bus conductor. In the mid-1960s she began working with her sister Shirley, who was establishing a reputation as a leading folk singer. She arranged some of Shirley's songs and, on the album ''Sweet Primeroses'', accompanied her on
portative organ
A portative organ (from the Latin verb , "to carry"), also known during Italian Trecento as the , is a small pipe organ that consists of one rank of flue pipes, sometimes arranged in two rows, to be played while strapped to the performer at a ri ...
.
Further work with Shirley followed: Shirley said ''"You could launch yourself off on a Dolly arrangement."'' In 1968 they produced the album ''
Anthems in Eden
''Anthems in Eden'' is a 1969 album by Shirley and Dolly Collins, with the Early Music Consort of London, directed by David Munrow. The album originally consisted of a 28-minute set of folk songs plus seven other individual pieces performed by t ...
'', commissioned by
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. ...
...
, and regularly toured together. Dolly also worked as a musician and arranger with other singers and bands, including
'' (1977).
By the late 1970s she retreated from touring and live concerts, and earned a living from gardening.
Her last recordings were with Shirley on the album ''For As Many as Will'' (1978). She continued to compose, however, and just before her death she completed a cycle of First World War poems and a new mass written with the poet
, the 'Missa Humana', which will finally receive its premiere on 25 February 2023 at Conway Hall, London (directed by John Andrews; produced by Lawrence Warner). She died at home in