I have just read about the death of Judy Dyble, who was the first singer in Fairport Convention, way way back in 1967, when she was Richard Thompson's girl-friend. She wasn't a distinguished singer, in the same way that Sandy Denny was, but she did make an instrumental contribution to their first album, playing recorder and electric autoharp, as well as singing. She reprised her freaky recorder in the instrumental break of 'Jack Of Diamonds' at Cropredy 1997.
I got to meet Judy at Cropredy 2000: she was a nice enough person. I also have her autobiography which I bought a few years ago when it was published, which gives an alternative view of the beginnings of Fairport.
She also had a connection to the nascent King Crimson: for a while she was the girl-friend of Ian McDonald who was playing with Giles, Giles and Fripp before they metamorphosed into KC. As such, she appears on a demo recording of 'I talk to the wind', a song which changed greatly from its original arrangement to the one on ITCOTCK.
Judy made a return to music in the last two decades; I have on my music players a modern version of ITTTW in which the chords have been mucked up. She sings with little expression and I don't really like that track.
Funnily enough, whilst walking the dog this afternoon, I was thinking about how old the current Fairporters are, and when they intend to give up playing. What is rewarding is the prominence that the notice of her death received: I saw it on the Guardian website, but the same announcement appeared also on a BBC website as well as other places. I wonder whether Simon Nicol or Ashley Hutchings will publish something on the topic.
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