Sandy Denny

English folksinger and songwriter

• Born: January 6, 1948
• Birthplace: London, England
• Died: April 21, 1978
• Place of death: London, England

Denny’s songwriting and haunting, stentorian lead vocals set the standard for male and female folk-rock singers on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s.

Member of The Strawbs; Fairport Convention; Fotheringay; the Bunch

The Life

Alexandra Elene Maclean Denny was born in London and studied piano and voice at an early age. She became known in the mid-1960’s at London-area folk clubs—the Scots House, Bunjies, Les Cousins—as a nursing student who sang old folk songs. She dropped out of nursing school to pursue a solo career, singing traditional folk songs in the public domain as well as covering songs by Tom Paxton and Bob Dylan. A BBC radio broadcast landed her a record deal, and soon she was asked to join the Strawbs.

Denny recorded only one album with the Strawbs, which included one of her first achievements as a singer-songwriter, “Who Knows Where the Time Goes?” While the album was in production in 1968, Judy Collins chose the song as the title track on one of her albums. At the same time the members of Fairport Convention persuaded Denny to replace Judy Dyble in their folk-rock group. Over the next several years, Fairport Convention produced three signature albums of the folk-rock movement: What We Did on Our Holidays, Unhalfbricking, and Liege and Lief.

Denny’s romance with guitarist Trevor Lucas contributed to the breakup of Fairport Convention in 1971, and Lucas and Denny formed Fotheringay, the name of the first song on the first Fairport album, which Denny had written.

Denny and Lucas married on September 20, 1973. They briefly rejoined Fairport Convention in 1974 and 1975, touring and releasing a live album, although the group disbanded again. Denny gave birth to a daughter, Georgia, in July, 1977, but her relationship with Lucas was deteriorating. Lucas was seen with other women, and Denny went on drinking binges with John Bonham and Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, sometimes joined by actorPeter O’Toole. In March, 1978, at her parents’ house in Cornwall, she fell and suffered a head injury. This may have contributed to a brain hemorrhage in April, which put her in a coma from which she never recovered. She died on April 21, 1978.

The Music

Although Denny entered the London folk scene as a vocalist and guitarist who played songs written by others, during the last decade of her life she developed into a premier songwriter.

Early Works. The Strawbs’ All Our Own Work displays Denny’s distinctive voice as well as her songwriting abilities. The first signature song of her own creation, “Who Knows Where the Time Goes?,” was included not only on the Strawbs’ album but also as the title track on noted American folksinger Collins’s album. As the twenty-one-year-old Denny was becoming recognized as a significant singer and songwriter, she was in the process of leaving the Strawbs to join Fairport Convention.

What We Did on Our Holidays. The first Fairport Convention album with Denny was an instant critical and commercial success. Although most of the songs on the album were written by virtuoso guitarist and songwriter Richard Thompson, with covers of songs by Joni Mitchell (“Eastern Rain”) and Bob Dylan (“I’ll Keep It with Mine”), the first side of the album opens with Denny’s “Fotheringay.” The album demonstrated the musical prowess and the commercial viability of the band.

Unhalfbricking. This album included more Dylan covers (“Si tu dois partir,” “Percy’s Song,” and “Million-Dollar Bash”); a remarkable eleven-minute arrangement of a traditional British folk song in the public domain (“A Sailor’s Life”); and two songs each by Denny and Thompson, showing that the group recognized its two gifted songwriters. Denny’s solo song, also recorded with the Strawbs, “Who Knows Where the Time Goes?,” finally made a Fairport album, and “Autopsy” provided a poetic lead-in to “A Sailor’s Life,” which concluded the first side of the album. Unfortunately, in the week before the album’s release, drummer Martin Lamble, driving back from a concert in Birmingham with Thompson’s girlfriend Jeannie Franklyn, crashed, and both perished. The accident had personal and artistic ramifications among the members of Fairport for many years.

Liege and Lief. With Dave Mattacks replacing Lamble on drums and with Dave Swarbick added on violin and viola, Fairport Convention recorded this album in two short weeks late in 1969. The album is mostly traditional British folk songs, except for the opening musical call-to-arms, “Come All Ye,” written by Denny with input from bassist Ashley Hutchings. Such songs as “Matty Groves” and “The Deserter” chronicle England’s storied past. Thompson’s two songs for the album, “Farewell, Farewell” and “Crazy Man Michael,” remained in his repertoire after he left Fairport Convention.

Fotheringay. When Denny left Fairport Convention to start Fotheringay with Lucas, she continued her professional relationship with Sound Techniques Studio and producer Joe Boyd, who had produced the last three Fairport albums. The album was a commercial and critical success, but internecine struggles within the band, combined with alcohol and drug abuse, caused the band to break up after the album and a single tour. Denny’s songwriting finally achieved center-stage status in this group, which she codirected with Lucas. “Nothing More” and “The Pond and the Stream” are superior works of poetry and music, and “The Sea” and “Winter Winds” are compelling original pieces. She cowrote “Peace in the End” with Lucas, and on the album are the expected Dylan cover (“Too Much of Nothing”) and a Gordon Lightfoot cover (“The Way I Feel”).

Musical Legacy

Denny’s voice was remarkable for its range and clarity, and her songwriting exhibited a remarkable creativity. Her finesse on the guitar complemented the lyrical qualities of her songs. The albums recorded and released between 1968 and 1970, with Fairport Convention and Fotheringay, are among the enduring achievements in the folk-rock movement on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.

Principal Recordings

albums (solo): The Original Sandy Denny, 1967; Sandy Denny, 1970; The North Star Grassman and the Ravens, 1971; Sandy, 1972; Like an Old-Fashioned Waltz, 1973; Rendezvous, 1977.

albums (with the Bunch): Rock On, 1972.

albums (with Fairport Convention): Fairport Convention, 1968; Liege and Lief, 1969; Unhalfbricking, 1969; What We Did on Our Holidays, 1969; Full House, 1970; Angel Delight, 1971; Babbacombe Lee, 1971; Nine, 1973; Rosie, 1973; Rising for the Moon, 1975; Gottle o’ Geer, 1976; The Bonny Bunch of Roses, 1977; Tipplers’ Tales, 1978.

albums (with Fotheringay): Fotheringay, 1970.

albums (with the Strawbs): All Our Own Work, 1968; Sandy Denny and the Strawbs, 1968.

Bibliography

Brocken, Michael. The British Folk Revival, 1944-2002. Aldershot, England: Ashgate, 2003. Details the British postwar folk-music renaissance, including the convergence of folk and pop music in the 1960’s.

Heylin, Clinton. No More Sad Refrains: The Life and Times of Sandy Denny. London: Helter Skelter, 2001. Drawing on personal interviews (some with British musicians, including Pete Townshend) and other eyewitness accounts, the author places Denny within the social and musical scenes of the era.

Humphries, Patrick. Meet on the Ledge: A History of the Fairport Convention. London: Eel Pie, 1982. Brief but well-written and balanced retrospective of the band.