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Sandy Denny

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Sandy Denny (born Alexandra Elene MacLean Denny, January 6 1947, Wimbledon, London, England, died April 21 1978) was an English singer and songwriter. She is best known for her involvement with the British folk-rock movement, including two spells as a member of Fairport Convention, as well as her duet with Robert Plant on Led Zeppelin's "The Battle of Evermore".

Contents

Career

As a child, Denny studied classical piano. Her Scottish grandmother was a singer of traditional songs and at an early age, Denny showed an interest in singing, despite the disapproval of her extremely strict parents. After leaving school, she started training as a nurse at the Royal Brompton Hospital. In 1965, she enrolled at the Kingston College of Art in London, where she became involved in the folk club on campus. It was there that she met fellow students John Renbourn and Eric Clapton. She travelled in to Earls Court to play at the Troubadour club, where a member of The Strawbs heard her. In 1967, she was invited to join the band, and recorded one album with them in Denmark; the album includes an early version of her best-known (and widely covered) song, "Who Knows Where the Time Goes." Judy Collins recorded the song, helping to bring Sandy Denny to attention. Denny also recorded her first solo album in this period, featuring traditional songs and covers of folk contemporaries including a boyfriend of this period, Jackson C. Frank.

In 1968, she became the lead vocalist for Fairport Convention (replacing Judy Dyble), recording three albums with them. Denny is credited with introducing Fairport Convention to the traditional British folk repertoire, and is thus a key figure in the development of British folk-rock.

Denny left Fairport Convention in 1969, just before the release of Liege & Lief, to form her own band, Fotheringay, including her boyfriend, Australian born Trevor Lucas. She dissolved the group after one album to record solo albums, with several members of Fairport Convention as guests. "The North Star Grassmen and the Ravens" and "Sandy" remain her most popular solo albums. In 1973, she married Lucas, and returned to Fairport Convention for a world tour and another album, Rising for the Moon, featuring several of her own compositions.

During her solo period, Denny appeared on Lou Reitzner's version of The Who's rock opera, Tommy, and on "The Battle of Evermore", from Led Zeppelin's 1971 album 

(Led Zeppelin IV). She was voted "Female singer of the year" by Melody Maker in 1970 and 1971. Together with contemporaries including Richard Thompson and Ashley Hutchings, she participated in a one-off project called The Bunch, recording a collection of rock standards. She gained a devoted cult following, but remained deprecating of her talent and unsure of her true direction. Some of her best-loved recordings are interpretations of British traditional song. Denny herself was unsure as to whether she wanted to continue in that vein (in the manner of Steeleye Span and Maddy Prior) or that of a singer-songwriter like Joni Mitchell. She also had yearnings for success in the mass market, for which her shy, unpredictable nature and her insecurities about her looks (she was short and slightly overweight) were ill suited. Her solo albums feature efforts in all three directions, gaining her a reputation for charming eclecticism rather than the star power she and Lucas craved. Her charisma and extraordinary alto voice were never in doubt. Unfortunately, the stress of the Fairport Convention world tour in 1973 helped to make it apparent that Denny's heavy drinking and smoking were damaging her voice, inclining her to put elaborate string arrangements on her last two solo albums ("Like an Old-Fashioned Waltz" and "Rendezvous"). These heavily produced albums were not as well received by the critics. Denny began to question her career goals in earnest and decided to turn her attention to raising a family. At the same time, her substance abuse became critical and her behavior, always erratic, became sufficiently trying to alienate most of her fellow musicians, including Trevor Lucas and her other colleagues in Fairport Convention.
She died of a cerebral haemorrhage in 1978, after falling down a flight of stairs. The exact circumstances of her death are somewhat murky. Most likely she fell at her parents' home and the fatal haemorrhage occurred several weeks later. The confusion occurred due to friends' efforts to protect the privacy of Denny's family regarding the messier details of her life, specifically Denny's long-term abuse of alcohol and her marital troubles (she was living apart from Lucas and their daughter at the time of her death). The full story was finally told in Clinton Heylin's biography, No More Sad Refrains. After her death, Trevor Lucas returned to Australia with their daughter, Georgia. He died in 1989 of heart failure.

Sandy Denny's renown grew after her death and her songs have been covered by many other artists. She is considered a founder of the British folk-rock movement and perhaps its most important female singer and personality.

Discography

She also appears on: , where she sings a duet with Robert Plant;

Books

Trivia

Denny was namechecked in the printed lyric of the Spice Girls song "The Lady is a Vamp" by accident. When the CD booklet was printed, a line referring to Sandy and Danny (characters from the film Grease) was misprinted as "Sandy Denny, summer love".

The Ocean Colour Scene song "She's Been Writing" (from the North Atlantic Drift album) is about Sandy Denny.

Kate Bush's song, "Blow Away (For Bill)" on her album Never for Ever, mentions Sandy Denny. In this song Kate Bush ponders the existence of an afterlife and recalls departed friends and musicians, Buddy Holly and Marc Bolan are among the others mentioned.

External links

 

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