Jacqueline 'Jacqui' McShee (born 25 December 1943) is an English singer. Since 1966 she has performed with Pentangle, a

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

-influenced

folk rock Folk rock is a hybrid music genre that combines the elements of folk and rock music, which arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music revival. Performers suc ...

band.

Biography

McShee was born in

Catford Catford is a district in south east London, England, and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Lewisham. It is southwest of Lewisham itself, mostly in the Rushey Green and Catford South wards. The population of Catford, includ ...

South London South London is the southern part of London, England, south of the River Thames. The region consists of the Districts of England, boroughs, in whole or in part, of London Borough of Bexley, Bexley, London Borough of Bromley, Bromley, London Borou ...

. Her musical career began as a soloist in British

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fo ...

clubs in the mid 1960s. After working with guitarist

John Renbourn John Renbourn (8 August 1944 – 26 March 2015) was an English guitarist and songwriter. He was best known for his collaboration with guitarist Bert Jansch as well as his work with the folk group Pentangle, although he maintained a solo care ...

, she co-founded Pentangle. Pentangle rapidly established itself as one of the earliest exponents of the

British folk rock British folk rock is a form of folk rock which developed in the United Kingdom from the mid 1960s, and was at its most significant in the 1970s. Though the merging of folk and rock music came from several sources, it is widely regarded that the ...

movement. However, in addition to attracting fans of traditional British folk, they also drew audiences from the

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

, pop and

psychedelic folk Psychedelic folk (sometimes acid folk or freak folk) is a loosely defined form of psychedelic music, psychedelia that originated in the 1960s. It retains the largely acoustic instrumentation of contemporary folk music, folk, but adds musical el ...

worlds. The original band played a mixture of

ballads A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or '' ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

, and

, often blending these genres in the same piece. In 1994, McShee formed a new band named Jacqui McShee's Pentangle which, with a few personnel changes, is still performing today. In 1995, McShee performed as a

session singer Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a t ...

, along with her husband, drummer

Gerry Conway Gerard Francis Conway Thomas, Roy. "Roy's Rostrum" ("Bullpen Bulletins") in '' Marvel Super-Heroes'' #43 and other Marvel Comics cover-dated May 1974. (born September 10, 1952) is an American comic book writer, comic book editor, screenwriter, t ...

, on the album ''Active in The Parish'' by the singer-songwriter David Hughes. It was voted '' Q'' magazine's 'Album of the Year'. In 1998, McShee teamed up with Ulrich Maske to record ''The Frog and the Mouse'' and ''The Cat and the Fiddle''. These two books were designed to help German children to learn to speak English. In 2020, she and British guitarist

Kevin Dempsey Kevin Dempsey is a British, Coventry-born guitarist, songwriter, producer and arranger, whose playing has been described as "innovative". Career Dempsey started off playing drums before moving quickly to guitar. A co-founder of progressive fo ...

released ''From There to Here'' (MCDEM 001), a recording of self-composed songs and traditional tunes. In November 2020, she was reported to be living in

Surrey, England Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area ...

. McShee has a sister. Both of them joined the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in the early 1960s.

Discography

;As a collective * Jacqui McShee,

Danny Thompson Daniel Henry Edward Thompson (born 4 April 1939) is an English multi-instrumentalist best known as a double bassist. He has had a long musical career playing with a large variety of other musicians, particularly Richard Thompson and John Mart ...

, Tony Roberts, Vic Abram, ''An Album of English Christmas Carols'' (1994) ;As a session musician (session singer) *

, ''Another Monday'' (1966) * David Hughes, ''Active in The Parish'' (1995) (along with drummer

) ;Collaborations with Ulrich Maske * ''The Frog and the Mouse'' (1998) (audio book) * ''The Cat and the Fiddle'' (1998) (audio book) ;Collaboration with British guitarist

* ''From There to Here'' (2020)

References

External links

Jacqui McShee's official websiteOfficial Jacqui McShee's Pentangle website
{{DEFAULTSORT:McShee, Jacqui 1943 births Living people People from Catford English folk singers English women singers British folk rock musicians English people of Irish descent Musicians from Kent Pentangle (band) members