Peter Bellamy
Encyclopedia
Peter Franklyn Bellamy (8 September 1944 – 19 September 1991) was an English folk singer. He was a founding member of The Young Tradition
but also had a long solo career, recording numerous albums and touring folk clubs and concert halls. He committed suicide in 1991.
, living in the village of Warham and attending Fakenham Grammar School in the late 1950s and early 1960s. His father worked as a farm bailiff. He studied at Norwich School of Art, and later at Maidenhead Art College, under Peter Blake
and decades later still retained something of the flamboyant art student image, being described as looking like a latter-day Andy Warhol
, with blond hair, a scarlet jacket and yellow trousers.
Encouraged by his friend Anne Briggs
he dropped out of college in 1965 to become a member of "The Young Tradition
" with Royston Wood and Heather Wood. The trio recorded mainly traditional songs in close harmony and mostly without accompaniment. The Young Tradition projected their voices powerfully, clearly influenced by The Watersons
, the Copper Family
and Ewan MacColl
. They recorded three albums together plus a collaboration with Shirley Collins
called The Holly Bears The Crown. Although recorded in 1969 it was not released in full until the 90s.
The Young Tradition's final concert was at Cecil Sharp House in October 1969, after which they split up, with Bellamy wanting to concentrate on traditional English music, whilst the other members had developed interests in mediaeval music.
In 1971, Bellamy recorded a collaboration with Louis Killen: "Won't You Go My Way?".
, still alive at that time, who was the most famous traditional singer of Norfolk songs. On the album, Bellamy sang all songs unaccompanied. Beginning on his second album, "Fair England's Shore" (1968), he began to accompany himself on the Anglo concertina
. Still later, he occasionally recorded with guitar.
It wasn't until Bellamy's eighth album in 1975 that he recorded any of his own compositions. In the same year he recorded a collection of Rudyard Kipling
's Barrack Room Ballads (see below).
Having mastered the art of putting new words to a traditional song and his own words to a traditional tune, he wrote a ballad-opera: The Transports
in 1973 and it took him 4 years to find a company willing to produce it in 1977. It then became the folk record of the year for 1977 vindicating his long wait and many efforts to get it released. Many prominent names in the folk scene collaborated on the project Dolly Collins (a composer, the sister of Shirley Collins
), Martin Carthy
, Mike Waterson
, Norma Waterson
, June Tabor
, Nic Jones
, A.L. Lloyd, Cyril Tawney
and Dave Swarbrick
. It told the true story of the first transport ship to land in Australia and the first couple to marry on Australian soil. Based on a story Peter found in the local newspaper in Norfolk and followed by his research into the details at the city museum and library. Descendants of the Kabel family still live in Sydney and became friends of Peter.
In 2004 it was re-released together with a new production involving Simon Nicol and Fairport Convention. In 1986 Sid Kipper
and others devised a ballad opera called "Crab Wars". It was partly a parody of "The Transports", but Bellamy took it in good humour and even sang the role of narrator.
Another of Bellamy's ambitious projects, "The Maritime Suite", was broadcast on BBC Radio 2
but never issued on record.
The economics of folk singing meant that Bellamy sold his own limited edition cassettes at folk clubs, and many performances exist only as pirated tapes. It is said that Celtic Records have a large cache of quality recordings that are unlikely to be issued.
Continuing his early talents with the visual arts, Bellamy generally designed his own album jackets and also drew cartoons for Karl Dallas's national paper "Folk Review". He continued to exhibit and sell his paintings throughout his life.
Sydney Opera House
once hosted a concert by him and he toured in the USA.
Although at folk clubs, and in private, he often sang blues on bottleneck guitar, these performances rarely appeared on his albums.
and Rewards and Fairies
) from which he produced two albums, Oak Ash and Thorn and Merlyn's Isle of Gramarye.
Kipling's Barrack Room Ballads were published in 1892, and Bellamy started setting them to music in 1973. He was struck by people's misconceptions about Kipling, who many perceived as (in Bellamy's words) "one of the reactionary old guard, and therefore obviously a writer of no merit whatsoever". In reality, Kipling had captured a real insight into the attitudes of the ordinary soldiers, such as their contempt for those who sent them off to fight and die:
When composing the musical settings for Kipling's poetry, Bellamy had a theory, shared with many others, that highly metrical poets like Kipling used song tunes to keep their poems flowing properly. Some of Kipling's contemporaries confirm that he was in the habit of humming and whistling as he composed. It has, for example, been claimed that in The Loot, there is a "hidden" tune being worked to, and that nothing else can explain the strange refrains. Bellamy became excited when the line in Dutch in the Medway "our ships in every harbour...." reminded him of the line in the song Cupid's Garden "Twas down in Portsmouth Harbour...". This observation suggested the tune for the Kipling poem and made him wonder whether Kipling had actually composed to that tune, it being a common folk song in the 19th century and certainly part of the repertoire of the remarkable Copper family of Sussex who had lived in Rottingdean when Kipling was also living there. It has also been suggested that Kipling's "My name is O'Kelly, I've heard the reveille.." was written to the common Irish song and Army marching tune Lillibullero
. Bellamy found a different tune but agreed that Lillibullero was more likely to have been on Kiplings mind at the time of composition.
Initially, Bellamy's proposal to record the Ballads was vetoed by Kipling's daughter, and he had to wait until her death in 1976 before permission was finally granted by the Kipling Society.
The Barrack Room Ballads album was recorded by Bill Leader
, with Chris Birch on fiddle and Tony Hall on melodeon. The Kipling Society went on to appreciate Bellamy's contribution to Kipling's legacy and he was elected a Fellow of the Kipling Society, becoming a vice-president in 1981.
His obituary, published in The Guardian
concluded with the words:
His life and work was fondly celebrated by a day of performances including The Transports at Conway Hall in London on 2 October 1992, 13 months after his death.
Jon Boden of the duo Spiers and Boden
is a fan of Peter's bellowing style. He has jocularly put on his website "Bellamists subscribe to a belief in the absolute purity and oneness of all things Bellamy, and bleat daily incantations in the hope of advancing the day when he will finally return to reign in ever-lasting glory."
The Young Tradition and Shirley and Dolly Collins
Louis Killen and Peter Bellamy
Solo albums
Compilation
Various artists including Peter Bellamy
"Friends of Peter Bellamy"
The Young Tradition
The Young Tradition were a British folk group of the 1960s, formed by Peter Bellamy, Royston Wood and Heather Wood. They recorded three albums of mainly traditional British folk music, sung in arrangements for their three unaccompanied voices.-Biography:...
but also had a long solo career, recording numerous albums and touring folk clubs and concert halls. He committed suicide in 1991.
Early years
Peter Bellamy was born in Bournemouth and spent his formative years in North NorfolkNorfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
, living in the village of Warham and attending Fakenham Grammar School in the late 1950s and early 1960s. His father worked as a farm bailiff. He studied at Norwich School of Art, and later at Maidenhead Art College, under Peter Blake
Peter Blake (artist)
Sir Peter Thomas Blake, KBE, CBE, RDI, RA is an English pop artist, best known for his design of the sleeve for the Beatles' album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. He lives in Chiswick, London, UK.-Career:...
and decades later still retained something of the flamboyant art student image, being described as looking like a latter-day Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
, with blond hair, a scarlet jacket and yellow trousers.
Encouraged by his friend Anne Briggs
Anne Briggs
Anne Briggs is an English folk singer. Although she traveled widely in the 1960s and early 1970s, appearing at folk clubs and venues in England and Ireland, she never aspired to commercial success or to achieve widespread public acknowledgment of her music...
he dropped out of college in 1965 to become a member of "The Young Tradition
The Young Tradition
The Young Tradition were a British folk group of the 1960s, formed by Peter Bellamy, Royston Wood and Heather Wood. They recorded three albums of mainly traditional British folk music, sung in arrangements for their three unaccompanied voices.-Biography:...
" with Royston Wood and Heather Wood. The trio recorded mainly traditional songs in close harmony and mostly without accompaniment. The Young Tradition projected their voices powerfully, clearly influenced by The Watersons
The Watersons
The Watersons were an English folk group from Hull, Yorkshire. They performed mainly traditional songs with little or no accompaniment. Their distinctive sound came from their closely woven harmonies.-Career:...
, the Copper Family
Copper Family
The Copper Family are a family of singers of traditional, unaccompanied English folk song. Originally from Rottingdean, near Brighton, Sussex, England, the nucleus of the family now live in the neighbouring village of Peacehaven.-History:...
and Ewan MacColl
Ewan MacColl
Ewan MacColl was an English folk singer, songwriter, socialist, actor, poet, playwright, and record producer. He was married to theatre director Joan Littlewood, and later to American folksinger Peggy Seeger. He collaborated with Littlewood in the theatre and with Seeger in folk music...
. They recorded three albums together plus a collaboration with Shirley Collins
Shirley Collins
Shirley Elizabeth Collins MBE is a British folksinger who was a significant contributor to the English Folk Revival of the 1960s and 1970s...
called The Holly Bears The Crown. Although recorded in 1969 it was not released in full until the 90s.
The Young Tradition's final concert was at Cecil Sharp House in October 1969, after which they split up, with Bellamy wanting to concentrate on traditional English music, whilst the other members had developed interests in mediaeval music.
In 1971, Bellamy recorded a collaboration with Louis Killen: "Won't You Go My Way?".
Solo work
Peter Bellamy's first solo album "Mainly Norfolk" (1968) indicated his desire to promote the folk music of his part of England. It drew heavily on the repertoire of Harry CoxHarry Cox
Harry Fred Cox , was a Norfolk farmworker and one of the most important singers of traditional English music of the twentieth century, on account of his large repertoire and fine singing style....
, still alive at that time, who was the most famous traditional singer of Norfolk songs. On the album, Bellamy sang all songs unaccompanied. Beginning on his second album, "Fair England's Shore" (1968), he began to accompany himself on the Anglo concertina
Concertina
A concertina is a free-reed musical instrument, like the various accordions and the harmonica. It has a bellows and buttons typically on both ends of it. When pressed, the buttons travel in the same direction as the bellows, unlike accordion buttons which travel perpendicularly to it...
. Still later, he occasionally recorded with guitar.
It wasn't until Bellamy's eighth album in 1975 that he recorded any of his own compositions. In the same year he recorded a collection of Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English poet, short-story writer, and novelist chiefly remembered for his celebration of British imperialism, tales and poems of British soldiers in India, and his tales for children. Kipling received the 1907 Nobel Prize for Literature...
's Barrack Room Ballads (see below).
Having mastered the art of putting new words to a traditional song and his own words to a traditional tune, he wrote a ballad-opera: The Transports
The Transports
The Transports was a folk-opera written by Peter Bellamy and released on Free Reed Records in 1977. It is often cited as Bellamy's greatest achievement. It featured many artists from the 1970s English folk revival, including The Watersons, Martin Carthy, Nic Jones, A. L. Lloyd, June Tabor, Cyril...
in 1973 and it took him 4 years to find a company willing to produce it in 1977. It then became the folk record of the year for 1977 vindicating his long wait and many efforts to get it released. Many prominent names in the folk scene collaborated on the project Dolly Collins (a composer, the sister of Shirley Collins
Shirley Collins
Shirley Elizabeth Collins MBE is a British folksinger who was a significant contributor to the English Folk Revival of the 1960s and 1970s...
), Martin Carthy
Martin Carthy
Martin Carthy MBE is an English folk singer and guitarist who has remained one of the most influential figures in British traditional music, inspiring contemporaries such as Bob Dylan and Paul Simon and later artists such as Richard Thompson since he emerged as a young musician in the early days...
, Mike Waterson
Mike Waterson
Michael Waterson was an English writer, songwriter and folk singer.Waterson was born in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. He is best known as a member of The Watersons, with his sisters Lal Waterson and Norma Waterson and his brother-in-law Martin Carthy...
, Norma Waterson
Norma Waterson
Norma Christine Waterson is an English musician, best known as one of the original members of The Watersons, a premier English traditional group. Other members of the group included her brother Mike Waterson and sister Lal Waterson, and in later incarnations of the group her husband Martin...
, June Tabor
June Tabor
June Tabor is an English folk singer.- Early years :June Tabor was inspired to sing by hearing Anne Briggs' EP Hazards of Love in 1965. "I went and locked myself in the bathroom for a fortnight and drove my mother mad. I learned the songs on that EP note for note, twiddle for twiddle. That's how I...
, Nic Jones
Nic Jones
Nicolas Paul "Nic" Jones is an English folk singer, fingerstyle guitarist and fiddle player whose professional career spanned the years 1964-1982. He recorded five solo albums, and was a frequent guest performer.-Biography:...
, A.L. Lloyd, Cyril Tawney
Cyril Tawney
Cyril Tawney was an English singer-songwriter, proponent of the traditional songs of the West of England and traditional and modern maritime songs.- Biography :...
and Dave Swarbrick
Dave Swarbrick
Dave Swarbrick is an English folk musician and singer-songwriter. He has been described by Ashley Hutchings as 'the most influential [British] fiddle player bar none' and his style has been copied or developed by almost every British, and many World folk violin players that have followed him...
. It told the true story of the first transport ship to land in Australia and the first couple to marry on Australian soil. Based on a story Peter found in the local newspaper in Norfolk and followed by his research into the details at the city museum and library. Descendants of the Kabel family still live in Sydney and became friends of Peter.
In 2004 it was re-released together with a new production involving Simon Nicol and Fairport Convention. In 1986 Sid Kipper
Sid Kipper
Chris Sugden is a Norfolk humorist, best known for his portrayal of fictional folk singer Sid Kipper, the younger half of The Kipper Family.-Personal life:...
and others devised a ballad opera called "Crab Wars". It was partly a parody of "The Transports", but Bellamy took it in good humour and even sang the role of narrator.
Another of Bellamy's ambitious projects, "The Maritime Suite", was broadcast on BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult Contemporary or AOR, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres...
but never issued on record.
The economics of folk singing meant that Bellamy sold his own limited edition cassettes at folk clubs, and many performances exist only as pirated tapes. It is said that Celtic Records have a large cache of quality recordings that are unlikely to be issued.
Continuing his early talents with the visual arts, Bellamy generally designed his own album jackets and also drew cartoons for Karl Dallas's national paper "Folk Review". He continued to exhibit and sell his paintings throughout his life.
Sydney Opera House
Sydney Opera House
The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in the Australian city of Sydney. It was conceived and largely built by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, finally opening in 1973 after a long gestation starting with his competition-winning design in 1957...
once hosted a concert by him and he toured in the USA.
Although at folk clubs, and in private, he often sang blues on bottleneck guitar, these performances rarely appeared on his albums.
Recording Kipling's ballads
Bellamy started his exploration of Kipling as a source for songs, not with the Barrack Room Ballads but with the songs from Kipling's Children's books, (Puck of Pook's HillPuck of Pook's Hill
Puck of Pook's Hill is a historical fantasy book by Rudyard Kipling, published in 1906, containing a series of short stories set in different periods of English history. The stories are all narrated to two children living near Burwash, in the area of Kipling's own house Bateman's, by people...
and Rewards and Fairies
Rewards and Fairies
Rewards and Fairies is a historical fantasy book by Rudyard Kipling published in 1910. The title comes from the poem Farewell, Rewards and Fairies by Richard Corbet. The poem is referred to by the children in the first story of the preceding book Puck of Pook's Hill...
) from which he produced two albums, Oak Ash and Thorn and Merlyn's Isle of Gramarye.
Kipling's Barrack Room Ballads were published in 1892, and Bellamy started setting them to music in 1973. He was struck by people's misconceptions about Kipling, who many perceived as (in Bellamy's words) "one of the reactionary old guard, and therefore obviously a writer of no merit whatsoever". In reality, Kipling had captured a real insight into the attitudes of the ordinary soldiers, such as their contempt for those who sent them off to fight and die:
- "It's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' 'Chuck him out, the brute!'
- But it's 'Saviour of 'is country' when the guns begin to shoot.
- An' it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' anything you please;
- An' Tommy ain't a bloomin' fool - you bet that Tommy sees!" (Tommy)
When composing the musical settings for Kipling's poetry, Bellamy had a theory, shared with many others, that highly metrical poets like Kipling used song tunes to keep their poems flowing properly. Some of Kipling's contemporaries confirm that he was in the habit of humming and whistling as he composed. It has, for example, been claimed that in The Loot, there is a "hidden" tune being worked to, and that nothing else can explain the strange refrains. Bellamy became excited when the line in Dutch in the Medway "our ships in every harbour...." reminded him of the line in the song Cupid's Garden "Twas down in Portsmouth Harbour...". This observation suggested the tune for the Kipling poem and made him wonder whether Kipling had actually composed to that tune, it being a common folk song in the 19th century and certainly part of the repertoire of the remarkable Copper family of Sussex who had lived in Rottingdean when Kipling was also living there. It has also been suggested that Kipling's "My name is O'Kelly, I've heard the reveille.." was written to the common Irish song and Army marching tune Lillibullero
Lillibullero
Lillibullero is a march that sets the words of a satirical ballad generally said to be by Lord Thomas Wharton to music attributed to Henry Purcell. Although Purcell published Lillibullero in his compilation Music's Handmaid of 1689 as "a new Irish tune", it is probable that Purcell hijacked the...
. Bellamy found a different tune but agreed that Lillibullero was more likely to have been on Kiplings mind at the time of composition.
Initially, Bellamy's proposal to record the Ballads was vetoed by Kipling's daughter, and he had to wait until her death in 1976 before permission was finally granted by the Kipling Society.
The Barrack Room Ballads album was recorded by Bill Leader
Bill Leader
Bill Leader is an English recording engineer and record producer. He is particularly associated with the British folk music revival of the 1960s and 1970s, producing records by Davey Graham, Bert Jansch, John Renbourn, Frank Harte and others....
, with Chris Birch on fiddle and Tony Hall on melodeon. The Kipling Society went on to appreciate Bellamy's contribution to Kipling's legacy and he was elected a Fellow of the Kipling Society, becoming a vice-president in 1981.
Suicide
Peter Bellamy committed suicide on 19 September 1991, an event that baffled the folk music community. At the time, he was working with Fellside Records on a project to record major British unaccompanied singing talents.His obituary, published in The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
concluded with the words:
His life and work was fondly celebrated by a day of performances including The Transports at Conway Hall in London on 2 October 1992, 13 months after his death.
Vocal singing style
Bellamy had a distinctive singing style. In a "Borfolk" cartoon in the October 1980 edition of "The Southern Rag", commenting on an event at Cecil Sharp House compered by Peter Bellamy, he was given the anagrammatical name "Elmer P Bleaty", a humorous comment on the slightly nasal vibrato of his voice. (Peter Bellamy later obtained, framed and hung the original of the cartoon in his home.)Jon Boden of the duo Spiers and Boden
Spiers and Boden
Spiers and Boden are an English folk duo. John Spiers plays melodeon and concertina, while Jon Boden sings and plays fiddle and guitar while stamping the rhythm on a stomp box.-Biography:...
is a fan of Peter's bellowing style. He has jocularly put on his website "Bellamists subscribe to a belief in the absolute purity and oneness of all things Bellamy, and bleat daily incantations in the hope of advancing the day when he will finally return to reign in ever-lasting glory."
Discography
The Young Tradition- The Young Tradition (1966)
- So Cheerfully Round (1967)
- Galleries (1968)
The Young Tradition and Shirley and Dolly Collins
- The Holly Bears The CrownThe Holly Bears the CrownThe Holly Bears The Crown is an album by The Young Tradition with Shirley and Dolly Collins.This album was recorded in London in 1969. A few weeks later musical and financial differences caused the break-up of The Young Tradition. The trio "The Young Tradition" sang a cappella folk songs in a...
(1969)
Louis Killen and Peter Bellamy
- Won't You Go My Way? (1971)
Solo albums
- Mainly Norfolk (1968)
- Fair England's Shore (1968)
- The Fox Jumped Over The Parson's Gate (1969)
- Oak Ash and Thorn (1970)
- Won't You Go My Way (1971)
- Merlin's Island Of Gramarye (1972)
- Barrack Room Ballads of Rudyard Kipling (1975)
- Peter Bellamy (1975)
- Tell It Like It Was (1975)
- Both Sides Then (1979)
- Keep On Kipling (1982)
- Fair Annie (1983)
- Second Wind (1985)
- Mr Kipling Made Exceedingly Good Songs (1989)
- Soldiers Three (1990)
- Songs and Rummy Conjurin' Tricks (1991)
Compilation
- Wake The Vaulted Echoes
Various artists including Peter Bellamy
- The Transports (1977)
"Friends of Peter Bellamy"
- The Transports (2004)