whatever happened to Vikki Clayton?

[koho (Koen)]

"I now have a new album called Looking at the Stars", it reads on Vikki Clayton's website. I believe this was released in 2001? One album surfaced after that, called Live ... 2002 or so? She sang with Fairport on the 35th Anniversary Cropredy, and for years and years before that she was a regular on -and near- the Cropredy stage. Two fantastic gigs at Cropredy Church come to mind, and one or two Vikki band warmups at the Mill which included Ric Sanders and Jerry Donahue amongst a load of others. She had fab bands inc Clive Bunker, Fred T Baker and Liam Genocky and was pretty much a piece of the Cropredy furniture. What happened after Cropredy 2002? I don't think I've seen her since - or heard anything about her even. The website www.vikkiclayton.co.uk seems to have been silent for years. Under 'gigs' it says "Lazy bones!". Is that the simple reason? It seems that the Cropredy/FC stage spot which pretty much was hers for a couple of years has been taken over by Chris While - which is fine, you can only fill the Sandy Denny spot for so long - but she was a fine artist in her own right (with as far as I'm concerned the highpoint being the Movers & Shakers album from ... 1995?). So ... missing person alert! Where's Vikki Clayton?

[Malcolm]

There was a post here a couple of weeks ago, you may be able to trawl through and find. Something about touring Germany, I thnk.

[JJ (Joanna)]

Vikki appeared at the lst Big Session Festival in 2005 at De Montford Hall and was there again this year as children's entertainer!!

She appeared at the local Folk Club earlier this year and was excellent. 

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[derekrach]

She is alive and well and still singing superbly. She did one of many gigs at the Ride a Cock Horse Folk Club, Banbury in July this year and she has also played with her band and sung solo at previous Banbury Canalside Folk Festivals. We wil most certainly be booking her again. Why she is not the darling of Cropredy any more - who knows ? 

[Dad Volt]

There is reasonably recent news here
http://www.btinternet.com/~unclechristo/vikki.html
Including the fact that she is recording a new album at the moment 

[koho (Koen)]

Oh good :-) so it's really just her website being not updated very much, and the fact that she hasn't recorded any new studio album since Looking At The Stars ... plus her apparently being out of the Cropredy scope for whatever reason. Good she's still at it AND recording a new album! Thanks for the updates there. Guess some googling could have told me this, but then one assumes her own website would be most up to date.

[Dubai Danny]

Vikki appeared at the lst Big Session Festival in 2005 at De Montford Hall and was there again this year as children's entertainer!!

So that WAS her! She seemed to be enjoying herself, but it did seem odd that she wasn't actually playing at the festival.

[Harry (Jules)]

"Looking At The Stars " is featured on the current show of "The Banburyshire Brolly" podstation ( www.banburyshire.com)

Jules 

[Chris]

Vikki appeared at the lst Big Session Festival in 2005 at De Montford Hall and was there again this year as children's entertainer!!

So that WAS her! She seemed to be enjoying herself, but it did seem odd that she wasn't actually playing at the festival.

Why? If she played at the festival in 2005, makes sense that she didn't this year. Plus the fact that her day job is education officer at the De Montfort probably explains all....

[Edthefolkie]

Thanks for that Chris! All becomes suddenly clear. Is it Vikki who sends us De Mont brochures twice a week I wonder.....
 
Well I for one would love to see her back at Croppers with The Nerve, and hopefully wearing totally unsuitable footwear as usual. 

And also I hope to be able to buy Koen a pint at the bar - his "sort of blogs" a few years ago about his Croppers, Beverley etc. expeditions from Holland were excellent (and hilarious). As good as David Hughes' tour book.

 
    

[clive]

Perhaps it's the De Montfort Dry Cleaners, she always appears immaculate in white when I see her. 

[koho (Koen)]

And also I hope to be able to buy Koen a pint at the bar - his "sort of blogs" a few years ago about his Croppers, Beverley etc. expeditions from Holland were excellent (and hilarious). As good as David Hughes' tour book.

I'm now hijacking the topic a bit but: thank you :-) - I'll remember that pint then (hopefully next year).
In fact I once toyed with the idea to put the lot together into some self published book, and went as far as gathering all the "sort of blogs" - still have 'em here, chronologically. Originally posted on the FC List back in the days when that was still bearable.
Turned out there were rather a lot of them, many a musical (FC related) journey, from Cropredies, to FC's 1999/2000 New Year's Eve bash, to FC gigging on the premises of a loony asylum in Holland, to various gigs in mainly Dutch outbacks. Now the book idea quickly went down the drain as I figured it would be yet another nice idea which would end up as a financial loss (story of my life, haha) but maybe they can find a place right here? I'm happy to post them (but where?).
End of topic hijack, sorry Vikki.

[Dubai Danny]

Why?

Because when you see someone you only know as an adult performer depping as a children's entertainer rather than playing any "proper" festival sessions, it can be a little puzzling. Especially when you don't know that she played the festival last year and that she's got a day job at the venue anyway 

[Chris]

that makes perfect sense now....