Now here's a challenge: Kelly While with FC?

[Andy]

"This is not a tribute band" was memorably said by Simon and a female singer would be great, but not to be a replacement for Sandy Denny, destined to fail in that role - for who could succeed? Frankly I'm rather tired of this endless obsession with a woman singer "replacing" Sandy. Yes, she was a great singer in a great band, but she's been dead these 32 years and that version of the band has been dead longer still.

IF Fairport Convention wished to reinvigorate themselves with a female singer again, that'd be great, especially if it led to new material being written and performed by the new version of the band.

But I don't think the putative new singer should be forced to try and emulate someone who has achieved a status in death that makes it almost impossible for them to follow. Let them strike out in a new direction, not travel on the same old worn down pathways.



Edit: Just read Jude's reply, with which I agree wholeheartedly

[fat Billy(Bill)]

I'm with andy and Jude, great as fairport are it would be nice to see them move forward.

[richardkendell]

"This is not a tribute band" was memorably said by Simon and a female singer would be great, but not to be a replacement for Sandy Denny, destined to fail in that role - for who could succeed? Frankly I'm rather tired of this endless obsession with a woman singer "replacing" Sandy. Yes, she was a great singer in a great band, but she's been dead these 32 years and that version of the band has been dead longer still.

IF Fairport Convention wished to reinvigorate themselves with a female singer again, that'd be great, especially if it led to new material being written and performed by the new version of the band.

But I don't think the putative new singer should be forced to try and emulate someone who has achieved a status in death that makes it almost impossible for them to follow. Let them strike out in a new direction, not travel on the same old worn down pathways.



Edit: Just read Jude's reply, with which I agree wholeheartedly

I agree wholeheartedly with both comments. I find all the "Sandy substitutes" rather pale by comparison with the original and don't understand why there is a fascination in trying to recreate what cannot be recreated. No one expected Dave Mattacks to play as a substitute for Martin Lamble, why expect any musician to impersonate another (tribute bans excepted).

[Big Dave]

We already have a ready made Lady singer for Fairport, surely?  

[hendo (Dave)]

"This is not a tribute band" was memorably said by Simon and a female singer would be great, but not to be a replacement for Sandy Denny, destined to fail in that role - for who could succeed? Frankly I'm rather tired of this endless obsession with a woman singer "replacing" Sandy. Yes, she was a great singer in a great band, but she's been dead these 32 years and that version of the band has been dead longer still.

IF Fairport Convention wished to reinvigorate themselves with a female singer again, that'd be great, especially if it led to new material being written and performed by the new version of the band.

But I don't think the putative new singer should be forced to try and emulate someone who has achieved a status in death that makes it almost impossible for them to follow. Let them strike out in a new direction, not travel on the same old worn down pathways.



Edit: Just read Jude's reply, with which I agree wholeheartedly

I completely agree with Jude and Andy  ( but i always had a soft spot for Vikki Clayton singing Sandy songs........ anybody who could have a band called the Nerve doing Sandy songs.......................................)

[Goaty]

 ( but i always had a soft spot for Vikki Clayton singing Sandy songs )

My knees quiver at the very thought, one of my all time favourite singers is Vikki

[Ancient Muse (Andy)]

Maybe I risk being drummed out of TAW and lightning striking my hung, drawn and quartered body, but I really don't understand the way Sandy is treated with such veneration. She was good, but she was only one of many good female singers at the time and Fairport wasn't Sandy any more than Sandy was Fairport. The whole was then, and has been ever since, greater than its constituent parts.

It would be great to see Fairport bringing in a female singer occasionally when material allows for it - might even be nice to have a woman writing for Fairport again too, but I fear she will always be compared with the sainted Sandy.

[Big Dave]

Maybe I risk being drummed out of TAW and lightning striking my hung, drawn and quartered body, but I really don't understand the way Sandy is treated with such veneration. She was good, but she was only one of many good female singers at the time and Fairport wasn't Sandy any more than Sandy was Fairport. The whole was then, and has been ever since, greater than its constituent parts.

It would be great to see Fairport bringing in a female singer occasionally when material allows for it - might even be nice to have a woman writing for Fairport again too, but I fear she will always be compared with the sainted Sandy.

and hence our dear Jude!

[Delfini (Diane)]

Interesting points AM  

[Andy Tuck]

I agree they should never try and replace Sandy. But, I do have a preference for female singers in folk music.

So recruit a new full time female vocalist with FC and also add a rock guitarist. I feel that with these additions they could move forward to even greater heights. Now who these two musicians should be is the question.

Probably best left to the band.

[jimc]

Julianne Regan has always been my favourite guest (as opposed to original) Fairport singer, not least because she's her own woman and sings her own take on the material.

But the key point for anything other than an occasional guest slot is always the one that we rarely find out about: can the rest of the band work happily with them and can they work happily with the rest of the band... Until you've been there you have no idea how corrosive the cliched muscial differences actually are...

[davidmjs]

If it comes up sounding at least 10% as good as Kellie's superb take on A Sailor's Life at the Barbican last year, then I'm in.  I certainly prefer her voice to Chris's While and Leslie.

[Jim]

does anyone really expect FC to expand to a 7 piece with all the implications that has?
if were adding guitarists and singers why not add a ukulele prodigy and a keyboard wizard while were at it, and a brass section.

this is an utterly pointless thread

[Ollie]

if were add ig guitarists and singers why not add a ukulele prodigy and a keyboard wizard while were at it, and a brass section.

Fairporthead anyone?  

[Jim]

if were adding guitarists and singers why not add a ukulele prodigy and a keyboard wizard while were at it, and a brass section.

Fairporthead anyone?  

dont back against it

[Shane (Skirky)]

this is an utterly pointless thread

The door's over there, Jim.

[Paul]

I really don't understand the way Sandy is treated with such veneration. She was good, but she was only one of many good female singers at the time and Fairport wasn't Sandy any more than Sandy was Fairport. The whole was then, and has been ever since, greater than its constituent parts.

She died before her time, which is always a good way to increase your fame rating. Not recomended though.

Paul

[PLW (Peter)]

Maybe I risk being drummed out of TAW and lightning striking my hung, drawn and quartered body, but I really don't understand the way Sandy is treated with such veneration. She was good, but she was only one of many good female singers at the time and Fairport wasn't Sandy any more than Sandy was Fairport. The whole was then, and has been ever since, greater than its constituent parts.

It would be great to see Fairport bringing in a female singer occasionally when material allows for it - might even be nice to have a woman writing for Fairport again too, but I fear she will always be compared with the sainted Sandy.

She wasn't good, Andy. She was the best interpreter of English folk song and the finest English female singer-songwriter of her generation. I was lucky enough to see her perform with and without Fairport on several occasions - including the famous Albert Hall gig - and her performances were nothing short of spine-tingling.

This is not the rose-cloured tint of retrospection. I thought so at the time - and no singer I have seen since has come anywhere near generating the same power in a live performance.

What I loved about Chris While doing Liege and Lief at Cropredy that time was that Chris wasn't impersonating Sandy, but singing the songs as Chris While. Which is why if they did bring in a female vocalist - which I'd love them to - she should be her own woman, just as Jude says.

[David W]

I'm with andy and Jude, great as fairport are it would be nice to see them move forward.

Possibly move in a different direction but I think as a band they are always moving - but nit always in the direction I would wish them to.

A full time female singer would be OK, especially if they also played a mean electric guitar though.

[Malcolm]

She is only two steps away. Albion Xmas Band