Career Biography
Kirsty
MacColl was born in Croydon, South London on 10th October 1959.
Her father was the legendary folk singer Ewan MacColl, but
she grew up seeing him only at weekends, being raised by her dancer/choreographer
mother, Jean Newlove along with brother Hamish. Being older,
it was Hamish's record collection which the young Kirsty commandeered
to immerse herself in the sounds of the Beach Boys and Neil Young,
which she credited with inspiring her love of harmonies and songwriting
skills.
In 1978, Kirsty joined a minor league band called
the Drug Addix, and on the back of some demos for Stiff Records, Kirsty
was auditioned as a solo singer and, having none, had to come up with
a song pronto - so she wrote "They don't know", and it became
her first single in June 1979, and later a big hit for Tracey Ullman.
In 1981 she hit No. 14 in the UK chart with "There's
a guy works down the chip shop swears he's Elvis", a witty rocking
number pointing the finger at lying scoundrels everywhere, a theme she
would return to with relish throughout her songwriting life.
An
album, "Desperate Character", was released featuring a
collection of snappy Kirsty songs along with a few covers of 60s
songs. It didn't trouble the charts, and was in fact unknown
to all but her most long serving and devoted fans from the time.
In late 1984 she made the Top 10 with her version of Billy Bragg's
"A new England". Her knack for spotting a
killer song and her persuasiveness in having the song's author write
an extra verse just for her paid off with what would be the biggest
solo chart success of her career.
Three
years later, Kirsty got to No. 2 in the chart performing with the
Pogues on the now perennial Christmas hit, "Fairytale of New
York", but having met husband Steve Lillywhite at a Simple
Minds session in 1983 she largely spent the second half of the 80s
raising her two sons Jamie and Louis, with periodic appearances
as a backing singer for a range of top acts of the day before returning
to the studio with Virgin for the 1989 release of what many still
consider to be her best album, "Kite".
In
1991 she teamed up with Smiths guitarist and songwriter Johnny Marr
on much of her next album, "Electric Landlady".
This was heralded by the track many Americans know best, "Walking
down Madison"; the album also featured Kirsty's first fully
formed attempt at using a Latin approach (kindled by her work in
New York on a David Byrne album) with the always popular "My
affair" before being dumped by Virgin and hitting a slump including
the breakup of her marriage to Steve Lillywhite.
Not
being one to give up however, Kirsty bounced back in 1994 with her
"sad divorce album", "Titanic Days".
Featured was a song which was to become one of her fans' favourites
and the inspiration for their memorial bench gesture years later
- "Soho Square". Kirsty later said that had she
realised how much people liked it she would have chosen to include
the song on her "Galore" retrospective in 1995.
The album was largely low key, yet beautiful.
Then
everything went quiet as far as the record buying public were concerned.
During this spell though, Kirsty was finding her feet again having
almost decided to give up the music business completely, getting
busy and touring South America and Cuba extensively. In early
1999 Kirsty fell in love again with saxophonist James Knight (brought
in originally to teach her son) and started to work on a bunch of
new material which she'd started out in Brazil and in Cuba, meshing
Latin rhythms to the traditional knowing lyrics and great tunes
which comprise "Kirsty songs". She proclaimed herself
"a Latin soul trapped in an English body" and got to work
in Pete Glenister and Dave Ruffy's studio in Bermondsey.
The
resulting tracks, featuring samples from Kirsty's by now extensive
collection of Cuban records brought back from her numerous trips,
were to become acclaimed as her finest hour - the album "Tropical
Brainstorm". Kirsty assembled a stunning touring band
complete with horn section and ebullient Colombian bass player.
She
had already started work on her next album and was working on various
side projects when she decided to take a well earned break after
a year of promo and touring, going to México with her partner and
two sons. On December 18th 2000 her love of diving cost Kirsty
her life when a large speedboat hit her off the coast of Cozumel
island. The following days her photo was prominent on almost
all the British newspapers and it became apparent how substantial
her support amongst the public was, though she had only latterly
begun to appreciate it herself. At her public memorial service,
major rock stars and television actors mingled freely with the public,
everyone united in their grief.
Her music lives on as testimony to her skills as
a wordsmith and arranger of lasting quality songs. Her qualities
as a person live on in the memories of her family and friends.
Comprehensive coverage of all aspects of Kirsty's
career can be found in her web site www.kirstymaccoll.com
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