Today we mark the 35th anniversary of the death of Sandy Denny.
I still remember returning home from a hard day in the laboratory (I was in my final term at University, where all my time was spent carrying out a research project): I was driving up Hampstead Main Street when I saw a copy of Melody Maker in a rack outside of Hampstead underground station. "Sandy Denny dead at 31" was the headline.
At the end of the 60s and the beginning of the 70s, Sandy had a string of four excellent albums ('Unhalfbricking', 'Fotheringay', 'The North Star Grassman', 'Sandy') which placed her at the top of the British musical scene. Although it sounds amusing now, she won the Melody Maker's 'best female singer' award two years running, 1970 and 1971; she was even invited to sing on Led Zeppelin's fourth album, further cementing the links between that hard rock band and her folk rock band. One would have thought that the door to super-stardom was open.
I should point out at this stage that when I write "Sandy Denny", I refer to the public side of the singer, and not to her private life. It was only in 1998, twenty years after her death, that the public became aware of the fact that there was some difference between her public and private persona. Although it wasn't clear at the time, with hindsight we can see that she didn't pass through that door as she began to fall prey to her sense of self doubt.
From this pinnacle (1973 onwards), her star began to wane: she released a string of somewhat less than excellent albums ('Old fashioned waltz', 'Rising for the moon', 'Rendezvous') and I was seriously beginning to wonder what had happened to her talent.
In retrospect (and again, ignoring personal data), there were three major figures in her musical life and one wonders how different her musical output would have been had these figures played different parts in the 70s.
In premature memory of her death, I played 'Unhalfbricking' on Saturday and remembered how her voice intrigued and influenced the 13 year old me in 1969. Her influence on my sense of harmony was very strong, and only in recent years has that influence faded.
I still remember returning home from a hard day in the laboratory (I was in my final term at University, where all my time was spent carrying out a research project): I was driving up Hampstead Main Street when I saw a copy of Melody Maker in a rack outside of Hampstead underground station. "Sandy Denny dead at 31" was the headline.
At the end of the 60s and the beginning of the 70s, Sandy had a string of four excellent albums ('Unhalfbricking', 'Fotheringay', 'The North Star Grassman', 'Sandy') which placed her at the top of the British musical scene. Although it sounds amusing now, she won the Melody Maker's 'best female singer' award two years running, 1970 and 1971; she was even invited to sing on Led Zeppelin's fourth album, further cementing the links between that hard rock band and her folk rock band. One would have thought that the door to super-stardom was open.
I should point out at this stage that when I write "Sandy Denny", I refer to the public side of the singer, and not to her private life. It was only in 1998, twenty years after her death, that the public became aware of the fact that there was some difference between her public and private persona. Although it wasn't clear at the time, with hindsight we can see that she didn't pass through that door as she began to fall prey to her sense of self doubt.
From this pinnacle (1973 onwards), her star began to wane: she released a string of somewhat less than excellent albums ('Old fashioned waltz', 'Rising for the moon', 'Rendezvous') and I was seriously beginning to wonder what had happened to her talent.
In retrospect (and again, ignoring personal data), there were three major figures in her musical life and one wonders how different her musical output would have been had these figures played different parts in the 70s.
- What would have happened had Joe Boyd not left Britain in early 1971? Would Fotheringay have completed their second album and gone on to fame?
- What would have happened had Richard Thompson stayed by her side and not converted to Islam, disappearing to a Norwich retreat in 1972?
- What would have happened had Sandy not hitched her star to Trevor Lucas?
In premature memory of her death, I played 'Unhalfbricking' on Saturday and remembered how her voice intrigued and influenced the 13 year old me in 1969. Her influence on my sense of harmony was very strong, and only in recent years has that influence faded.
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