Richard Thompson
Encyclopedia
Richard John Thompson OBE
(born 3 April 1949, Notting Hill
, London
) is a British
songwriter
, guitarist
and recording and performing musician. Highly regarded for his guitar techniques, Thompson was awarded the Orville H. Gibson award for best acoustic guitar player in 1991. Similarly, his songwriting has earned him an Ivor Novello Award
and, in 2006, a lifetime achievement award from BBC Radio. Artists who have recorded Thompson's compositions include such diverse talents as Robert Plant
, Del McCoury
, R.E.M.
, Bonnie Raitt
, Christy Moore
, David Gilmour
, Mary Black
, Elvis Costello
, The Corrs
, Sandy Denny
, June Tabor
, Joel Fafard
, Maria McKee
, Shawn Colvin
, Norma Waterson
, Martin Carthy
, Nanci Griffith
, Maura O'Connell
, Los Lobos
, John Doe
, Greg Brown, Bob Mould
, Barbara Manning
, Loudon Wainwright III
, and The Blind Boys of Alabama
.
Richard Thompson made his debut as a recording artist as a member of Fairport Convention
in September 1967. He continues to write and record new material and performs live frequently throughout Canada, the United States, Europe and Australia.
Thompson was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2011 New Year Honours for services to music.
On 5 July 2011, the degree of Doctor of Philosophy honoris causa
was conferred on Richard Thompson by the University of Aberdeen
, in a ceremony at the University's Elphinstone Hall
.
, West London, England. His father, a Scot
, was by profession a Scotland Yard
detective, and an amateur guitar player; several other family members had played music professionally. Whilst still attending William Ellis School
in Highgate
, he formed his first band "Emil and the Detectives" (named after a book and a movie by the same name
) with classmate Hugh Cornwell
, later lead singer and guitarist of The Stranglers
, on bass guitar.
Although, like so many musicians of his generation, Thompson was exposed to and embraced rock and roll
music at an early age, he was also exposed to his father’s collection of jazz
and traditional Scottish music. All these various styles were to colour Thompson’s playing in the years to come.
By the age of 18 Thompson was playing with the newly formed Fairport Convention
. It was Thompson’s guitar playing that caught the ear of American producer
Joe Boyd
. Largely on the strength of Thompson’s playing Boyd took them under his wing and signed them to his Witchseason production and management company.
Shortly thereafter Thompson, already acquiring a reputation as an outstanding guitar player, started writing songs seriously. This seems to have been out of necessity — Fairport Convention were essentially a cover band
at first.
By the time of Fairport’s second album, recorded and released in early 1969, Thompson was starting to emerge as a songwriter of distinction. As Fairport’s lineup and their sound evolved, Thompson continued to grow in stature as a player and as a songwriter with compositions like "Meet On The Ledge", "Genesis Hall" and "Crazy Man Michael".
In January 1971 Thompson announced that he was leaving Fairport Convention. His decision seems to have been instinctive, rather than a calculated career move.
In April 1972 he released his first solo album Henry the Human Fly
. The album sold poorly and was panned by the press, especially the influential Melody Maker
magazine. With time Henry has come to be more highly regarded, but at the time the critics' response hurt both Thompson and his career.
By this time Thompson had struck up a relationship with the singer Linda Peters
, who had sung on Henry the Human Fly. In October 1972 the couple were married, and Thompson, with Linda now effectively his front woman, regrouped for his next album and the next phase of his career.
album, I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight
, was recorded in May 1973 in short time and on a small budget. Largely because of the petrol shortage in Britain and its impact on the availability of vinyl for records, Bright Lights was held back by Island Records for nearly a year before being released in April 1974. The album was well received by the critics, though sales were less than stellar.
Thompson’s lyrics expressed a rather dismal world view, and it has been suggested that the bleak subject matter of his songs helped to keep his recordings off the hit parade. A more likely explanation was given by ex-Island
A&R man Richard Williams in the BBC TV documentary Solitary Life — Thompson was just not interested in fame and its trappings.
The Thompsons recorded two more albums — Hokey Pokey
and Pour Down Like Silver
, both released in 1975 — before Richard Thompson decided to leave the music business. The couple moved to a Sufi community in East Anglia.
It was not apparent from their records at first, but the Thompsons had embraced an esoteric Sufi strand of Islam
in early 1974. I Want To See the Bright Lights Tonight was recorded before this conversion, but released sometime afterwards. The songs for the second Richard and Linda album, Hokey Pokey, were similarly written some time ahead of the album's recording and eventual release. It was Pour Down Like Silver, with its cover photo of a turbaned Richard Thompson gazing out at the world, that tipped the public off to the Thompsons' growing preoccupation with their faith.
The trilogy of albums released either side of his sojourn in the commune was heavily influenced by Thompson's beliefs and by Sufi scripture, but in the long run his religious beliefs (he remains a committed Muslim
) have not influenced his work in an obvious manner. The outlook expressed in his songs, his musical style, the subjects addressed by his lyrics have not shown any fundamental change.
Thompson started to re-engage with the world of professional music in 1977. He guested on an album by Sandy Denny
, and had undertaken a short tour and started recording with a group of musicians who were also Sufis. Thompson asked Joe Boyd
to produce these sessions, and two days were spent on the initial recordings. Boyd recalls that the sessions were not a success: "It was really, I felt, very poor. I didn't have much confidence in the musicians that he was working with. The atmosphere was very strange and it just didn't seem to work."
At about this time the Thompsons and their family moved out of the commune and back to their old home in Hampstead
. Boyd had already invited Richard Thompson to play on Julie Covington
’s debut album. With spare studio time and the American session musician
s hired to work on the Covington album available, the Thompsons went back into the studio to record under their own name for the first time in three years.
The resulting album, First Light, was warmly received by the critics but did not sell particularly well. Neither did its follow up, 1979's harder-edged and more cynical Sunnyvista
. Chrysalis Records
did not take up their option to renew the contract, and the Thompsons found themselves without a contract, but not without admirers.
Gerry Rafferty
had booked the Thompsons as the support act for his 1980 tour, and had also used Richard as a session player on his Night Owl
album. Rafferty offered to finance the recording of a new Richard and Linda Thompson album which he would then use to secure a contract for the Thompsons. Richard Thompson fell out with Rafferty during this project and was not happy with the finished product. Nevertheless Rafferty kept his side of the bargain and presented the album to several record companies — none of which expressed interest in signing the Thompsons. Rafferty did not recover his investment.
About a year later Joe Boyd
signed the Thompsons to his small Hannibal
label and a new album was recorded. Shoot Out the Lights
included new recordings of many of the songs recorded in 1980. Linda Thompson was pregnant at the time of the recording, and so the album’s release was delayed until they could tour behind the album. Breathing problems arising from her pregnancy also meant that Linda was not able to sing the lead part on some of these songs as she had done on demo tapes and the Rafferty-produced recordings.
As an interim measure, Richard Thompson decided to arrange for a low-key tour of the U.S. This tour was set up by Nancy Covey who had been in the UK in 1981 trying to sign Thompson to play at the famous McCabe’s guitar shop in Santa Monica
. During this tour Thompson and Covey grew closer to each other, and in December 1981 Richard and Linda Thompson separated.
On its release in 1982, Shoot Out the Lights was lauded by critics and sold quite well — especially in the U.S.
The Thompsons, now a couple for professional purposes only, toured the U.S. to support the album and then went their separate ways. Both the album and their live shows were well received by the American media, and Shoot Out the Lights effectively relaunched their career — just as their marriage was falling apart. The performances were very strong, but the tension between Richard and Linda was all too obvious.
saw him working with Boyd
again, but with a revised backing band and a more extroverted and up-tempo song selection.
With his separation from Linda finalised, Richard Thompson began to commute between twin bases in London and Los Angeles and began to tour regularly in the USA. Encouraged by the success of his solo shows in late 1981 and early 1982, he began to perform solo with increasing frequency as well as continuing to tour with a band. In 1983 and 1984 he toured the USA and Europe with the Richard Thompson Big Band, which included two saxophone
players in addition to the more usual rhythm section, second guitar and accordion
. Set lists included covers of classic rock 'n roll songs and jazz standards such as "Tuxedo Junction
".
In 1985 Thompson returned to the big league when he signed with PolyGram
and received a sizable advance. He also married Nancy Covey and moved his home and his working base to California
.
1985's Across a Crowded Room
was his last album to be recorded in England and the last to have Boyd
as producer
. After sales failed to match the critics’ praises Thompson was under some pressure to repay PolyGram
’s investment with a hit album. In 1986 he released Daring Adventures
, which was recorded in Los Angeles and produced by Mitchell Froom
. Daring Adventures, with a rich sound, markedly different production and use of American session players
, was perceived by some as evidence of Thompson’s increasing "Americanisation". Perhaps more significantly, the album continued the trend, begun with Across A Crowded Room, of Thompson’s songs moving away from the seemingly personal material and towards the character sketches and narratives for which he has since become famous. Froom and PolyGram had plans to target college and the growing "alternative" markets with Daring Adventures. Sales improved, but not substantially. Polygram declined an option to renew the contract. Thompson’s management negotiated a new deal with Capitol Records
and Thompson released a string of albums between 1988 and 1996 with Froom in the producer's chair.
For a short while a late career commercial breakthrough seemed likely. The Grammy
-nominated 1991 album Rumor And Sigh
sold well and a single, "I Feel So Good", achieved some chart success. In fact, the song "1952 Vincent Black Lightning" from Rumor and Sigh remains the most requested song on National Public Radio. Unfortunately, a shake-up at Capitol saw Hale Milgrim (Thompson's champion and fan within the boardroom) replaced by Garry Gersh. Thus, Thompson's next album Mirror Blue was held back for almost a year before being released, and the momentum that could have capitalised on the critical success and popularity enjoyed by Rumor And Sigh never followed.
Mirror Blue was released in 1994, and Thompson took a band on the road to promote the album. This backing band was the smallest that Thompson had yet assembled in his career. He was joined by drummer Dave Mattacks
, Danny Thompson
(no relation) on double bass
, and Pete Zorn
on acoustic guitar, backing vocals, mandolin
and various wind instrument
s. This lineup toured with Thompson the following two years, and all subsequent Richard Thompson Band lineups have been built around Zorn and Danny Thompson.
Thompson continued recording for Capitol
until 1999, when Mock Tudor
was recorded and released. His deal with Capitol was modified so that he could release and directly market live
, limited-quantity, not-for-retail albums. The first of these was Live at Crawley
, released in 1995. These "authorised bootlegs
" are well regarded by Thompson fans. In 2001 Thompson refused the option to renew a contract, and he parted ways with Capitol. Hereafter Thompson funded the recording of his own albums and distributed and marketed them by smaller independent labels.
The move away from big labels and big budgets brought a bigger marketing push and healthier sales. Thompson's first two self-funded releases, 2003's The Old Kit Bag
and 2005’s Front Parlour Ballads
, did well in the indie
charts on both sides of the Atlantic. In May 2007 Thompson released Sweet Warrior
. The album was licensed to different labels in different territories: Shout! Factory
in the USA, P-Vine
in Japan, Planet Records in Australia, and Proper Records
in the UK and Europe). In August of the same year Island
released a live Richard and Linda Thompson album, compiled from recordings made during the November 1975 tour to promote the Pour Down Like Silver
album.
On 10 June 2010 Thompson was awarded the Mojo
Les Paul Award for "Guitar Legend".
Richard and Linda Thompson performed a duet at the 12 June 2010 Meltdown Festival tribute concert to Kate McGarrigle
, which Richard coordinated. It was their first performance together in nearly three decades.
On 31 August 2010 Thompson released a new live album through Shout! Factory. The album, entitled Dream Attic
, is composed of entirely new songs recorded live on tour with no studio overdubbing. The recording and touring band consisted of Thompson,
Pete Zorn, (acoustic guitar
, flute, saxophone
, mandolin, vocals); Michael Jerome
(drums, vocals), Taras Prodaniuk, (bass guitar, vocals); and Joel Zifkin
, (electric violin
, mandolin, vocals). Dream Attic
was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album
.
In between leaving Fairport Convention
in early 1971 and releasing his debut solo album in 1972 he undertook a large amount of session
work, most notably on albums by John Martyn, Al Stewart
, Matthews Southern Comfort, Sandy Denny
and Nick Drake
.
During the same period he also worked on two collaborative projects. Morris On
was recorded with Ashley Hutchings
, John Kirkpatrick, Dave Mattacks
and Barry Dransfield, and was a collection of English traditional tunes arranged for electric instruments. The Bunch were almost the reverse conceptually — a grouping of English folk rock
musicians (including Sandy Denny
, Linda Peters
and members of Fairport Convention
) recording a selection of classic rock and roll
tunes.
Thompson has continued to guest on albums by an array of artists, from Crowded House
, Bonnie Raitt
and Vivian Stanshall
, to Norma Waterson
and Beausoleil
and folk artists like Loudon Wainwright III
, Cathal McConnell and Bob Davenport. He has also performed and recorded with Teddy Thompson
, his son from his marriage to Linda Thompson
.
Since the early 1980s Thompson has appeared at Fairport Convention
's annual Cropredy Festival
, both in his own right and as a participant in sets with current and previous Fairport members. (He once joked that Fairport Convention is a bit like the Hotel California
: "you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.") These sets are seldom confined to performances of songs out of the Thompson or Fairport Convention canons, and in recent years some surprise offerings have included the soul classic "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" (with Thompson backed by the Roy Wood
Big Band), The Beatles
' "I'm Down" and even "The Lady Is a Tramp".
Thompson has displayed a penchant for the avant garde as well, working with former Pere Ubu
singer David Thomas
's grouping The Pedestrians on two albums in 1981 and 1982, respectively. In the 1980s, he was associated with a loose-fitting group called The Golden Palominos
, who were led by drummer Anton Fier
and included at times on stage and on record Jack Bruce
, Michael Stipe
, Carla Bley
, John Lydon
, Bill Laswell
and others. He has worked with experimental guitarist
Henry Kaiser
, most notably as part of the ad hoc grouping French Frith Kaiser Thompson
with whom he recorded two albums. In 1997 he worked with long-time friend and band member Danny Thompson
to record a concept album
Industry that dealt with the decline of British industry. A year later he worked with early music
expert Philip Pickett
on the acclaimed Bones of All Men which fused renaissance
tunes with contemporary music.
In recent years Thompson has devised and toured his show 1000 Years of Popular Music
. The inspiration for this came when Playboy
magazine asked Thompson (and many other music industry figures) in 1999 for their suggestions for the "top ten songs of the millennium". Guessing that Playboy expected most people's lists to start at around 1950, Thompson took them at their word and presented a list of songs from the 11th century to the present day. Perhaps not surprisingly, Playboy didn't use his list, but the exercise gave him the idea for a show which takes a chronological trip through popular music across the ages. Thompson acknowledges that this is an ambitious undertaking, partly because he reckons that he is technically unqualified to sing 98% of the material, and partly because of the spare musical setting he restricts himself to: besides his acoustic guitar, he's backed by singer/pianist Judith Owen
and a percussionist/singer (Debra Dobkin). A typical performance would start with a medieval round, progress via a Purcell
aria, Victorian music-hall and Hoagy Carmichael
and climax with Thompson's unique take on the Britney Spears
hit "Oops!... I Did It Again
".
In 2004 Thompson was asked to create the soundtrack music for the Werner Herzog
documentary Grizzly Man
. The score, which was recorded over a two-day period in December 2004, brought Thompson together with a group of improvisational musicians, mostly from the San Francisco Bay area
; video footage from the sessions was edited into a mini-documentary, In the Edges, which was included with the DVD release of Grizzly Man.
In 2009 Thompson was commissioned to write a piece for the International Society of Bassists in honor of Danny Thompson. The resulting Cabaret of Souls, a musical play set in the underworld, has been performed in State College (Pennsylvania), London, and Los Angeles with a cast that includes Harry Shearer, Judith Owen, Debra Dobkin, Pete Zorn, either Danny Thompson or David Piltch, and a 12-piece string section conducted by Peter Askim.
was a collection of unreleased material from the previous eight years of Thompson's appearances on the Island
label. The 3-CD set Watching the Dark
is a generous combination of his better-known songs and previously unreleased live and studio tracks. Action Packed
is a compilation of tracks from his Capitol releases, plus three hard-to-find songs. Finally, in 2006, the independent label Free Reed released RT: The Life and Music of Richard Thompson, a 5-CD box set consisting almost entirely of previously unreleased performances of songs from throughout Thompson's long career.
Thompson's songs have been extensively covered; for example, Dimming of the Day
has been performed by artists such as The Neville Brothers
, Bonnie Raitt
, Emmylou Harris
, David Gilmour
, The Blind Boys of Alabama
, The Corrs
and Alison Krauss and Union Station. There have been several tribute compilations of other artists' interpretations of his work, including: Capitol
's Beat the Retreat: Songs by Richard Thompson and Green Linnet's The World Is a Wonderful Place: The Songs of Richard Thompson, both released in 1994.
") where he plays bass notes and rhythm with a pick between his first finger and thumb, and adds melody and punctuation by plucking the treble strings with his fingers. He also makes use of different guitar tunings
, such as (low to high) CGDGBE, DADGBE
, DADGAD
, and more. This enables him to adapt traditional songs, as on Strict Tempo!
and 1000 Years of Popular Music
. Thompson occasionally makes use of a thumb-pick, playing in fingerstyle, the most notable example being on the motorcycle ballad "1952 Vincent Black Lightning."
pickups.
Prior to using a Stratocaster with Fairport Convention he used a Gibson Les Paul with P-90
pickups. he then switched to a late 60s Stratocaster. Since leaving Fairport Convention he has continued to use electric guitars with single coil pickups, most famously a late 50’s Stratocaster but also two custom built electrics by Danny Ferrington as well as other Stratocasters, various Telecaster-type guitars and, in the studio, a Danelectro
U2.
As regards effects
, he has made significant use of modulation and vibrato
type effects pedals, most notably the Univibe
and emulations thereof.
Thompson has made intermittent use of Roland
's GK-1 pickup and GL-2 synthesizer over the years. He made use of these devices on 1979's Sunnyvista album and has occasionally used them in concert.
acoustic guitars for studio and live work. Prior to this he used a Martin 000-18 as well as instruments built by Danny Ferrington.
For live work his acoustic guitars are fitted with a Sunrise pickup and an internal condenser microphone. The output from the pickup is usually fed into some effects pedals, typically a delay pedal and a Univibe
.
.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(born 3 April 1949, Notting Hill
Notting Hill
Notting Hill is an area in London, England, close to the north-western corner of Kensington Gardens, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
) is a British
British people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
, guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
and recording and performing musician. Highly regarded for his guitar techniques, Thompson was awarded the Orville H. Gibson award for best acoustic guitar player in 1991. Similarly, his songwriting has earned him an Ivor Novello Award
Ivor Novello Awards
The Ivor Novello Awards, named after the Cardiff born entertainer Ivor Novello, are awards for songwriting and composing. They are presented annually in London by the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors and were first introduced in 1955.Nicknamed The Ivors, the awards take place...
and, in 2006, a lifetime achievement award from BBC Radio. Artists who have recorded Thompson's compositions include such diverse talents as Robert Plant
Robert Plant
Robert Anthony Plant, CBE is an English singer and songwriter best known as the vocalist and lyricist of the iconic rock band Led Zeppelin. He has also had a successful solo career...
, Del McCoury
Del McCoury
Delano Floyd McCoury is an American bluegrass musician. As leader of the Del McCoury Band, he plays guitar and sings lead vocals along with his two sons, Ronnie McCoury and Rob McCoury, who play mandolin and banjo respectively...
, R.E.M.
R.E.M.
R.E.M. was an American rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills and drummer Bill Berry. One of the first popular alternative rock bands, R.E.M. gained early attention due to Buck's ringing, arpeggiated guitar style and Stipe's...
, Bonnie Raitt
Bonnie Raitt
Bonnie Lynn Raitt is an American blues singer-songwriter and a renowned slide guitar player. During the 1970s, Raitt released a series of acclaimed roots-influenced albums which incorporated elements of blues, rock, folk and country, but she is perhaps best known for her more commercially...
, Christy Moore
Christy Moore
Christopher Andrew "Christy" Moore is a popular Irish folk singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He is well known as one of the founding members of Planxty and Moving Hearts...
, David Gilmour
David Gilmour
David Jon Gilmour, CBE, D.M. is an English rock musician and multi-instrumentalist who is best known as the guitarist, one of the lead singers and main songwriters in the progressive rock band Pink Floyd. In addition to his work with Pink Floyd, Gilmour has worked as a producer for a variety of...
, Mary Black
Mary Black
Mary Black is an Irish singer. She is well known as an interpreter of both folk and contemporary material which has made her a major recording artist in her native Ireland, and in many other parts of the world....
, Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...
, The Corrs
The Corrs
The Corrs are an Irish band which combine pop rock with traditional Celtic folk music. The brother and sisters are from Dundalk, Ireland. The group consists of the Corr siblings: Andrea ; Sharon ; Caroline ; and Jim .The Corrs came to international prominence with their performance at the...
, Sandy Denny
Sandy Denny
Sandy Denny , born Alexandra Elene Maclean Denny, was an English singer and songwriter, perhaps best known as the lead singer for the folk rock band Fairport Convention...
, 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...
, Joel Fafard
Joel Fafard
Joel Fafard, November 18, 1968. Fafard is a Canadian finger-style and slide guitarist from Saskatchewan. He now lives on the Sunshine Coast in British Columbia....
, Maria McKee
Maria McKee
Maria Luisa McKee is an American singer and songwriter. She is best known for her work with Lone Justice and her 1990 UK solo chart-topping hit, "Show Me Heaven".-Music:...
, Shawn Colvin
Shawn Colvin
Shawn Colvin is an American singer-songwriter and musician.-Childhood and early career:Colvin was born in Vermillion, South Dakota. Her formative years were spent in the town of Carbondale, Illinois, where she attended Southern Illinois University Carbondale. She learned to play guitar at the age...
, 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...
, 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...
, Nanci Griffith
Nanci Griffith
Nanci Griffith, is an American singer, guitarist and songwriter from Austin, Texas.-Biography:...
, Maura O'Connell
Maura O'Connell
Maura O'Connell is an Irish singer and actress. She is known for her contemporary interpretations of Irish folk songs, strongly influenced by American country music.-Background:...
, Los Lobos
Los Lobos
Los Lobos are a multiple Grammy Award–winning American Chicano rock band from East Los Angeles, California. Their music is influenced by rock and roll, Tex-Mex, country, folk, R&B, blues, brown-eyed soul, and traditional Spanish and Mexican music such as cumbia, boleros and norteños.-History:The...
, John Doe
John Doe (musician)
John Doe is an American singer, songwriter, actor, poet and bass player. Doe founded the much-praised L.A. punk band X, of which he is still an active member. His musical performances and compositions span the rock, country and folk music genres...
, Greg Brown, Bob Mould
Bob Mould
Robert Arthur "Bob" Mould is an American musician, principally known for his work as guitarist, vocalist and songwriter for alternative rock bands Hüsker Dü in the 1980s and Sugar in the 1990s.-Early life:...
, Barbara Manning
Barbara Manning
Barbara Manning is an American indie rock singer-songwriter and guitarist. In addition to her solo career, Manning has been active in a number of bands, including 28th Day , World of Pooh, S.F. Seals and The Go-Luckys!. She has also distinguished herself as an interpreter of other writers' songs...
, Loudon Wainwright III
Loudon Wainwright III
Loudon Snowden Wainwright III is a Grammy Award-winning American songwriter, folk singer, humorist, and actor. He is the father of musicians Rufus Wainwright, Martha Wainwright and Lucy Wainwright Roche, brother of Sloan Wainwright, and the former husband of the late folk singer Kate McGarrigle.To...
, and The Blind Boys of Alabama
The Blind Boys of Alabama
The Blind Boys of Alabama are a gospel group from Alabama that first formed at the Alabama Institute for the Negro Blind at Talladega, Alabama in 1939. The three main vocalists of the group and their drummer/percussionist are all blind....
.
Richard Thompson made his debut as a recording artist as a member of Fairport Convention
Fairport Convention
Fairport Convention are an English folk rock and later electric folk band, formed in 1967 who are still recording and touring today. They are widely regarded as the most important single group in the English folk rock movement...
in September 1967. He continues to write and record new material and performs live frequently throughout Canada, the United States, Europe and Australia.
Thompson was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2011 New Year Honours for services to music.
On 5 July 2011, the degree of Doctor of Philosophy honoris causa
Honorary degree
An honorary degree or a degree honoris causa is an academic degree for which a university has waived the usual requirements, such as matriculation, residence, study, and the passing of examinations...
was conferred on Richard Thompson by the University of Aberdeen
University of Aberdeen
The University of Aberdeen, an ancient university founded in 1495, in Aberdeen, Scotland, is a British university. It is the third oldest university in Scotland, and the fifth oldest in the United Kingdom and wider English-speaking world...
, in a ceremony at the University's Elphinstone Hall
Elphinstone Hall
Elphinstone Hall is part of King's College, Aberdeen at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland which replaced the Common Hall. It is named after Bishop William Elphinstone, the founder of the University.-History:...
.
Early life and career (1949 to 1972)
Richard John Thompson was born in Ladbroke Crescent, Notting HillNotting Hill
Notting Hill is an area in London, England, close to the north-western corner of Kensington Gardens, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea...
, West London, England. His father, a Scot
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, was by profession a Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard is a metonym for the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service of London, UK. It derives from the location of the original Metropolitan Police headquarters at 4 Whitehall Place, which had a rear entrance on a street called Great Scotland Yard. The Scotland Yard entrance became...
detective, and an amateur guitar player; several other family members had played music professionally. Whilst still attending William Ellis School
William Ellis School
William Ellis School is a United Kingdom secondary comprehensive school for boys in Highgate, London.-Admissions:It is a specialist Language College. The School's motto is 'Rather Use Than Fame'. The school is over-subscribed, usually an indicator of a popular school. It is situated just west of...
in Highgate
Highgate
Highgate is an area of North London on the north-eastern corner of Hampstead Heath.Highgate is one of the most expensive London suburbs in which to live. It has an active conservation body, the Highgate Society, to protect its character....
, he formed his first band "Emil and the Detectives" (named after a book and a movie by the same name
Emil and the Detectives
Emil and the Detectives is a 1929 novel for children set mainly in Berlin, by the German writer Erich Kästner. It was Kästner's first major success, the only one of his pre-1945 works to escape Nazi censorship, and remains his best-known work, and has been translated into at least 59 languages...
) with classmate Hugh Cornwell
Hugh Cornwell
Hugh Alan Cornwell is an English musician and songwriter, best known for being the vocalist and guitarist for the punk/new wave group, The Stranglers, from 1974 to 1990.-Career:...
, later lead singer and guitarist of The Stranglers
The Stranglers
The Stranglers are an English punk/rock music group.Scoring some 23 UK top 40 singles and 17 UK top 40 albums to date in a career spanning five decades, the Stranglers are the longest-surviving and most "continuously successful" band to have originated in the UK punk scene of the mid to late 1970s...
, on bass guitar.
Although, like so many musicians of his generation, Thompson was exposed to and embraced rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
music at an early age, he was also exposed to his father’s collection of jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
and traditional Scottish music. All these various styles were to colour Thompson’s playing in the years to come.
Joe BoydJoe BoydJoe Boyd is an American record producer and former owner of the Witchseason production company. Boyd was instrumental in launching the careers of Nick Drake, Fairport Convention, and The Incredible String Band.-Career:...
: "He can imitate almost any style, and often does, but is instantly identifiable. In his playing you can hear the evocation of the Scottish piper's drone and the melody of the chanter as well as echoes of Barney Kessell's and James BurtonJames BurtonJames Burton is an American guitarist. A member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame since 2001 , Burton has also been recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame...
's guitars and Jerry Lee LewisJerry Lee LewisJerry Lee Lewis is an American rock and roll and country music singer-songwriter and pianist. An early pioneer of rock and roll music, Lewis's career faltered after he married his young cousin, and he afterwards made a career extension to country and western music. He is known by the nickname 'The...
's piano. But no blues clichés."
By the age of 18 Thompson was playing with the newly formed Fairport Convention
Fairport Convention
Fairport Convention are an English folk rock and later electric folk band, formed in 1967 who are still recording and touring today. They are widely regarded as the most important single group in the English folk rock movement...
. It was Thompson’s guitar playing that caught the ear of American producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
Joe Boyd
Joe Boyd
Joe Boyd is an American record producer and former owner of the Witchseason production company. Boyd was instrumental in launching the careers of Nick Drake, Fairport Convention, and The Incredible String Band.-Career:...
. Largely on the strength of Thompson’s playing Boyd took them under his wing and signed them to his Witchseason production and management company.
Boyd: "And there was this group of very nice Muswell HillMuswell HillMuswell Hill is a suburb of north London, mostly in the London Borough of Haringey. It is situated about north of Charing Cross and around from the City of London. Muswell Hill is in the N10 postal district and mostly in the Hornsey and Wood Green parliamentary constituency.- History :The...
grammar school boys and a girl playing American music. Leonard CohenLeonard CohenLeonard Norman Cohen, is a Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, poet and novelist. Cohen published his first book of poetry in Montreal in 1956 and his first novel in 1963. His work often explores religion, isolation, sexuality and interpersonal relationships...
songs, and Richard FarinaRichard FariñaRichard George Fariña was an American writer and folksinger.-Early years and education:Richard Fariña was born in Brooklyn, New York, of Cuban and Irish descent. He grew up in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn and attended Brooklyn Technical High School...
songs, and Bob DylanBob DylanBob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
songs, all being done in a kind of West-Coasty rock style. And then came the guitar solo, and Richard just played the most amazing solo. He played a solo which quotes from DjangoDjango ReinhardtDjango Reinhardt was a pioneering virtuoso jazz guitarist and composer who invented an entirely new style of jazz guitar technique that has since become a living musical tradition within French gypsy culture...
, from Charlie ChristianCharlie ChristianCharles Henry "Charlie" Christian was an American swing and jazz guitarist.Christian was an important early performer on the electric guitar, and is cited as a key figure in the development of bebop and cool jazz. He gained national exposure as a member of the Benny Goodman Sextet and Orchestra...
, you know, an incredibly sophisticated little solo. And that really amazed me, the breadth of his sophistication... and so, you know, at the end of the gig I was in the dressing room saying 'would you guys like to make a record?'"
Shortly thereafter Thompson, already acquiring a reputation as an outstanding guitar player, started writing songs seriously. This seems to have been out of necessity — Fairport Convention were essentially a cover band
Cover band
A cover band , is a band that plays mostly or exclusively cover songs. New or unknown bands often find the cover band format marketable for smaller gigs, and these bands may be known as a wedding band, party band and function band. A band whose covers consist mainly of songs that were chart hits is...
at first.
"I remember saying to Ashley[ HutchingsAshley HutchingsAshley Stephen Hutchings is an English bassist, vocalist, songwriter, arranger, band leader, writer and record producer. He was a founder member of three of the most noteworthy English folk-rock bands in the history of the genre; Fairport Convention, Steeleye Span and The Albion Band...
, bassist] after a gig, that I was kind of embarrassed about doing the material we were doing, because it seemed that we should have outgrown doing covers — even though it was only 1967 — it somehow wasn’t good enough and other bands were writing their own stuff and we should too. I remember being angry and saying to Ashley this isn’t good enough, we’ve got to get some original material... and stuff started to trickle through."
By the time of Fairport’s second album, recorded and released in early 1969, Thompson was starting to emerge as a songwriter of distinction. As Fairport’s lineup and their sound evolved, Thompson continued to grow in stature as a player and as a songwriter with compositions like "Meet On The Ledge", "Genesis Hall" and "Crazy Man Michael".
In January 1971 Thompson announced that he was leaving Fairport Convention. His decision seems to have been instinctive, rather than a calculated career move.
"I left Fairport as a gut reaction and didn't really know what I was doing, except writing. I was writing stuff and it seemed interesting and I thought it would be fun to make a record. And at the same time — 70–71 — I was doing a lot of sessionSession musicianSession musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...
work as a way of avoiding any serious ideas about a career."
In April 1972 he released his first solo album Henry the Human Fly
Henry the Human Fly
Henry the Human Fly was the first solo album by British singer/songwriter/guitarist Richard Thompson. It was originally released in Britain in April 1972 on the Island label and in the US on the Reprise label....
. The album sold poorly and was panned by the press, especially the influential Melody Maker
Melody Maker
Melody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was, according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly music newspaper. It was founded in 1926 as a magazine targeted at musicians; in 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express.-1950s–1960s:Originally the Melody...
magazine. With time Henry has come to be more highly regarded, but at the time the critics' response hurt both Thompson and his career.
By this time Thompson had struck up a relationship with the singer Linda Peters
Linda Thompson (singer)
Linda Thompson is a British singer. Born Linda Pettifer in Hackney, Thompson became one of the most recognised names—and voices—in the British folk rock movement of the 1970s and 1980s, in collaboration with her former husband and fellow British folk rock musician, guitarist Richard...
, who had sung on Henry the Human Fly. In October 1972 the couple were married, and Thompson, with Linda now effectively his front woman, regrouped for his next album and the next phase of his career.
Richard and Linda Thompson (1973 to 1982)
The first Richard and Linda ThompsonLinda Thompson (singer)
Linda Thompson is a British singer. Born Linda Pettifer in Hackney, Thompson became one of the most recognised names—and voices—in the British folk rock movement of the 1970s and 1980s, in collaboration with her former husband and fellow British folk rock musician, guitarist Richard...
album, I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight
I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight
Q : "After his 1971 departure from Fairport Convention, Richard Thompson found his ideal foil in recent bride Linda. A hugely inventive guitarist, he gives full vent to his talent on this dark, brooding album...
, was recorded in May 1973 in short time and on a small budget. Largely because of the petrol shortage in Britain and its impact on the availability of vinyl for records, Bright Lights was held back by Island Records for nearly a year before being released in April 1974. The album was well received by the critics, though sales were less than stellar.
Thompson’s lyrics expressed a rather dismal world view, and it has been suggested that the bleak subject matter of his songs helped to keep his recordings off the hit parade. A more likely explanation was given by ex-Island
Island Records
Island Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...
A&R man Richard Williams in the BBC TV documentary Solitary Life — Thompson was just not interested in fame and its trappings.
The Thompsons recorded two more albums — Hokey Pokey
Hokey Pokey (album)
Hokey Pokey is the second album by the British duo of singer Linda and singer/songwriter/guitarist Richard Thompson. It was recorded in the autumn of 1974 and released in 1975....
and Pour Down Like Silver
Pour Down Like Silver
Pour Down Like Silver is the third album by the British duo of singer/songwriter/guitarist Richard and singer Linda Thompson. It was recorded in the summer of 1975 and released in November 1975....
, both released in 1975 — before Richard Thompson decided to leave the music business. The couple moved to a Sufi community in East Anglia.
It was not apparent from their records at first, but the Thompsons had embraced an esoteric Sufi strand of Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
in early 1974. I Want To See the Bright Lights Tonight was recorded before this conversion, but released sometime afterwards. The songs for the second Richard and Linda album, Hokey Pokey, were similarly written some time ahead of the album's recording and eventual release. It was Pour Down Like Silver, with its cover photo of a turbaned Richard Thompson gazing out at the world, that tipped the public off to the Thompsons' growing preoccupation with their faith.
The trilogy of albums released either side of his sojourn in the commune was heavily influenced by Thompson's beliefs and by Sufi scripture, but in the long run his religious beliefs (he remains a committed Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
) have not influenced his work in an obvious manner. The outlook expressed in his songs, his musical style, the subjects addressed by his lyrics have not shown any fundamental change.
Thompson started to re-engage with the world of professional music in 1977. He guested on an album by Sandy Denny
Sandy Denny
Sandy Denny , born Alexandra Elene Maclean Denny, was an English singer and songwriter, perhaps best known as the lead singer for the folk rock band Fairport Convention...
, and had undertaken a short tour and started recording with a group of musicians who were also Sufis. Thompson asked Joe Boyd
Joe Boyd
Joe Boyd is an American record producer and former owner of the Witchseason production company. Boyd was instrumental in launching the careers of Nick Drake, Fairport Convention, and The Incredible String Band.-Career:...
to produce these sessions, and two days were spent on the initial recordings. Boyd recalls that the sessions were not a success: "It was really, I felt, very poor. I didn't have much confidence in the musicians that he was working with. The atmosphere was very strange and it just didn't seem to work."
At about this time the Thompsons and their family moved out of the commune and back to their old home in Hampstead
Hampstead
Hampstead is an area of London, England, north-west of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Camden in Inner London, it is known for its intellectual, liberal, artistic, musical and literary associations and for Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland...
. Boyd had already invited Richard Thompson to play on Julie Covington
Julie Covington
Julie Covington is an English singer and actress, best known for recording the original version of "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina".-Career:...
’s debut album. With spare studio time and the American session musician
Session musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...
s hired to work on the Covington album available, the Thompsons went back into the studio to record under their own name for the first time in three years.
The resulting album, First Light, was warmly received by the critics but did not sell particularly well. Neither did its follow up, 1979's harder-edged and more cynical Sunnyvista
Sunnyvista
Sunnyvista, released in October 1979 is the fifth album by Richard and Linda Thompson.After the artistic mismatch of the previous year's come back album , the Thompsons made greater use on this album of backing musicians that they had worked with previously.Sunnyvista is a curate's egg of an album...
. Chrysalis Records
Chrysalis Records
Chrysalis Records was a British record label that was created in 1969. The name was both a reference to the pupal stage of a butterfly and a combination of its founders names, Chris Wright and Terry Ellis...
did not take up their option to renew the contract, and the Thompsons found themselves without a contract, but not without admirers.
Gerry Rafferty
Gerry Rafferty
Gerald "Gerry" Rafferty was a Scottish singer songwriter best known for his solo hits "Baker Street", "Right Down the Line", "Days Gone Down", "Night Owl", "Get It Right Next Time", and with the band Stealers Wheel, "Stuck in the Middle with You". Rafferty was born into a working-class family in...
had booked the Thompsons as the support act for his 1980 tour, and had also used Richard as a session player on his Night Owl
Night Owl (album)
Night Owl is a 1979 album by Gerry Rafferty. It was released a year after Rafferty's Platinum-selling album City to City. While not quite performing as well as its predecessor, Night Owl still managed enough sales to achieve Gold status in North America and the United Kingdom. The title song...
album. Rafferty offered to finance the recording of a new Richard and Linda Thompson album which he would then use to secure a contract for the Thompsons. Richard Thompson fell out with Rafferty during this project and was not happy with the finished product. Nevertheless Rafferty kept his side of the bargain and presented the album to several record companies — none of which expressed interest in signing the Thompsons. Rafferty did not recover his investment.
About a year later Joe Boyd
Joe Boyd
Joe Boyd is an American record producer and former owner of the Witchseason production company. Boyd was instrumental in launching the careers of Nick Drake, Fairport Convention, and The Incredible String Band.-Career:...
signed the Thompsons to his small Hannibal
Hannibal Records
Hannibal Records was a record label and one of the first to work with the World music genre.Hannibal was started by Joe Boyd in 1980. Boyd had produced records by artists such as Nick Drake, The Incredible String Band and Fairport Convention and released recordings by these artists as well as...
label and a new album was recorded. Shoot Out the Lights
Shoot Out the Lights
Shoot Out the Lights is the sixth and final album by British husband-and-wife folk rock duo Richard and Linda Thompson. It was produced by Joe Boyd and released in 1982 on his Hannibal label...
included new recordings of many of the songs recorded in 1980. Linda Thompson was pregnant at the time of the recording, and so the album’s release was delayed until they could tour behind the album. Breathing problems arising from her pregnancy also meant that Linda was not able to sing the lead part on some of these songs as she had done on demo tapes and the Rafferty-produced recordings.
As an interim measure, Richard Thompson decided to arrange for a low-key tour of the U.S. This tour was set up by Nancy Covey who had been in the UK in 1981 trying to sign Thompson to play at the famous McCabe’s guitar shop in Santa Monica
Santa Mônica
Santa Mônica is a town and municipality in the state of Paraná in the Southern Region of Brazil.-References:...
. During this tour Thompson and Covey grew closer to each other, and in December 1981 Richard and Linda Thompson separated.
On its release in 1982, Shoot Out the Lights was lauded by critics and sold quite well — especially in the U.S.
The Thompsons, now a couple for professional purposes only, toured the U.S. to support the album and then went their separate ways. Both the album and their live shows were well received by the American media, and Shoot Out the Lights effectively relaunched their career — just as their marriage was falling apart. The performances were very strong, but the tension between Richard and Linda was all too obvious.
Solo (1983 to present)
After a stormy tour of the U.S., the Thompsons separated professionally. Richard Thompson continued recording as a solo artist. His 1983 album Hand Of KindnessHand of Kindness
Hand Of Kindness is an album by Richard Thompson recorded and released in 1983.After the "Tour From Hell" to promote Shoot Out The Lights Richard Thompson resumed a solo career as a recording and performing artist....
saw him working with Boyd
Joe Boyd
Joe Boyd is an American record producer and former owner of the Witchseason production company. Boyd was instrumental in launching the careers of Nick Drake, Fairport Convention, and The Incredible String Band.-Career:...
again, but with a revised backing band and a more extroverted and up-tempo song selection.
With his separation from Linda finalised, Richard Thompson began to commute between twin bases in London and Los Angeles and began to tour regularly in the USA. Encouraged by the success of his solo shows in late 1981 and early 1982, he began to perform solo with increasing frequency as well as continuing to tour with a band. In 1983 and 1984 he toured the USA and Europe with the Richard Thompson Big Band, which included two saxophone
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
players in addition to the more usual rhythm section, second guitar and accordion
Accordion
The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
. Set lists included covers of classic rock 'n roll songs and jazz standards such as "Tuxedo Junction
Tuxedo Junction
"Tuxedo Junction" is a song co-written by Birmingham, Alabama composer Erskine Hawkins and saxophonist and arranger Bill Johnson. Julian Dash is also credited for the music. The song was introduced by Hawkins's orchestra. Lyrics were by Buddy Feyne...
".
In 1985 Thompson returned to the big league when he signed with PolyGram
PolyGram
PolyGram was the name of the major label recording company started by Philips from as a holding company for its music interests in 1945. In 1999 it was sold to Seagram and merged into Universal Music Group.-Hollandsche Decca Distributie , 1929-1950:...
and received a sizable advance. He also married Nancy Covey and moved his home and his working base to California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
.
1985's Across a Crowded Room
Across a Crowded Room
Across a Crowded Room is an album by Richard Thompson released in 1985.In 1984 Thompson's management negotiated a contract with Polydor which gave him some financial security for the first time in over a decade. Across A Crowded Room was the first album recorded under this new contract...
was his last album to be recorded in England and the last to have Boyd
Joe Boyd
Joe Boyd is an American record producer and former owner of the Witchseason production company. Boyd was instrumental in launching the careers of Nick Drake, Fairport Convention, and The Incredible String Band.-Career:...
as producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
. After sales failed to match the critics’ praises Thompson was under some pressure to repay PolyGram
PolyGram
PolyGram was the name of the major label recording company started by Philips from as a holding company for its music interests in 1945. In 1999 it was sold to Seagram and merged into Universal Music Group.-Hollandsche Decca Distributie , 1929-1950:...
’s investment with a hit album. In 1986 he released Daring Adventures
Daring Adventures
Daring Adventures is an album by Richard Thompson, released in 1986.After sales of his 1985 release Across a Crowded Room had not met expectations, Thompson was under pressure from his record label to deliver with his next album....
, which was recorded in Los Angeles and produced by Mitchell Froom
Mitchell Froom
-Career:Froom began his career as a keyboard player in Sonoma County, California. The band Crossfire featured two keyboards players; Mitchell on one side of the stage and brother David on the other with Gary Pihl on guitar...
. Daring Adventures, with a rich sound, markedly different production and use of American session players
Session musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...
, was perceived by some as evidence of Thompson’s increasing "Americanisation". Perhaps more significantly, the album continued the trend, begun with Across A Crowded Room, of Thompson’s songs moving away from the seemingly personal material and towards the character sketches and narratives for which he has since become famous. Froom and PolyGram had plans to target college and the growing "alternative" markets with Daring Adventures. Sales improved, but not substantially. Polygram declined an option to renew the contract. Thompson’s management negotiated a new deal with Capitol Records
Capitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
and Thompson released a string of albums between 1988 and 1996 with Froom in the producer's chair.
For a short while a late career commercial breakthrough seemed likely. The Grammy
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
-nominated 1991 album Rumor And Sigh
Rumor and Sigh
Rumor and Sigh is an album by Richard Thompson released in 1991.This album is one of the artistic high-points of Richard Thompson's career, and is his most commercially successful album to date...
sold well and a single, "I Feel So Good", achieved some chart success. In fact, the song "1952 Vincent Black Lightning" from Rumor and Sigh remains the most requested song on National Public Radio. Unfortunately, a shake-up at Capitol saw Hale Milgrim (Thompson's champion and fan within the boardroom) replaced by Garry Gersh. Thus, Thompson's next album Mirror Blue was held back for almost a year before being released, and the momentum that could have capitalised on the critical success and popularity enjoyed by Rumor And Sigh never followed.
Mirror Blue was released in 1994, and Thompson took a band on the road to promote the album. This backing band was the smallest that Thompson had yet assembled in his career. He was joined by drummer Dave Mattacks
Dave Mattacks
Dave Mattacks is a rock and folk drummer. Best known for his work with Fairport Convention, Mattacks has also worked both as a session musician, and as a performance artist...
, Danny Thompson
Danny Thompson
Daniel Henry Edward 'Danny' Thompson is an English multi-instrumentalist best known as a double bassist and businessman...
(no relation) on double bass
Double bass
The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
, and Pete Zorn
Pete Zorn
Pete Zorn is an American multi-instrumentalist who plays roots music. He is best known as a longstanding member of Richard Thompson's touring band, where he serves as backing vocalist and plays acoustic guitar, mandolin, saxophone, flute, and tin whistle.Although he frequently tours with Thompson,...
on acoustic guitar, backing vocals, mandolin
Mandolin
A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
and various wind instrument
Wind instrument
A wind instrument is a musical instrument that contains some type of resonator , in which a column of air is set into vibration by the player blowing into a mouthpiece set at the end of the resonator. The pitch of the vibration is determined by the length of the tube and by manual modifications of...
s. This lineup toured with Thompson the following two years, and all subsequent Richard Thompson Band lineups have been built around Zorn and Danny Thompson.
Capitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
until 1999, when Mock Tudor
Mock Tudor (album)
Mock Tudor is an album by Richard Thompson released in 1999.For this, his fifth album for Capitol Records, Thompson teamed up with producers Tom Rothrock and Rob Schnapf, and Mock Tudor had a more straightforward production than his preceding albums on Capitol which had been produced by Mitchell...
was recorded and released. His deal with Capitol was modified so that he could release and directly market live
Live album
A live album is a recording consisting of material recorded during stage performances using remote recording techniques, commonly contrasted with a studio album...
, limited-quantity, not-for-retail albums. The first of these was Live at Crawley
Live at Crawley
Live at Crawley is a live album by Richard Thompson recorded in 1993 and released in 1995.Thompson is a widely bootlegged artist. He is vociferous in his opposition to bootlegs on the grounds that not only does the artist not gain by them, but that they also deprive the artist of control over the...
, released in 1995. These "authorised bootlegs
Bootleg recording
A bootleg recording is an audio or video recording of a performance that was not officially released by the artist or under other legal authority. The process of making and distributing such recordings is known as bootlegging...
" are well regarded by Thompson fans. In 2001 Thompson refused the option to renew a contract, and he parted ways with Capitol. Hereafter Thompson funded the recording of his own albums and distributed and marketed them by smaller independent labels.
The move away from big labels and big budgets brought a bigger marketing push and healthier sales. Thompson's first two self-funded releases, 2003's The Old Kit Bag
The Old Kit Bag
The Old Kit Bag is an album released in 2003 by British guitarist Richard Thompson. The title refers to the World War I marching song "Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit-Bag". When asked if the album had a theme, Thompson had no immediate answer, then said "I suppose the title is a theme of sorts...
and 2005’s Front Parlour Ballads
Front Parlour Ballads
Front Parlour Ballads is an album by Richard Thompson released in 2005.His 2005 release on the Cooking Vinyl label was a literally homemade album. Thompson's aim was to create an album that sounded small and intimate...
, did well in the indie
Indie (music)
In music, independent music, often shortened to indie music or "indie" is a term used to describe independence from major commercial record labels or their subsidiaries, and an autonomous, Do-It-Yourself approach to recording and publishing....
charts on both sides of the Atlantic. In May 2007 Thompson released Sweet Warrior
Sweet Warrior (album)
Sweet Warrior is an album by Richard Thompson released in 2007. Thompson financed the recording of this album himself and then licensed the finished album to various labels for distribution. On its release, Sweet Warrior entered Amazon.com's top 20 for music sales.-Overview:The track "Dad's Gonna...
. The album was licensed to different labels in different territories: Shout! Factory
Shout! Factory
Shout! Factory is an entertainment company founded in 2003 that was started by Richard Foos , Bob Emmer and Garson Foos initially as a specialty music label...
in the USA, P-Vine
P-Vine Records
P-Vine Records is a record label started by Blues Interactions, Inc., a firm in Tokyo, Japan established in 1975 by Yasufumi Higurashi and Akira Kochi...
in Japan, Planet Records in Australia, and Proper Records
Proper Records
Proper Records is a record label founded in 1988 by Malcolm Mills and Paul Riley. Commencing with a handful of releases, including The Balham Alligators and Chilli Willi and the Red Hot Peppers, the label grew in stature and renown through its reissue marque, 'Proper Box', whose 4CD boxsets for...
in the UK and Europe). In August of the same year Island
Island Records
Island Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...
released a live Richard and Linda Thompson album, compiled from recordings made during the November 1975 tour to promote the Pour Down Like Silver
Pour Down Like Silver
Pour Down Like Silver is the third album by the British duo of singer/songwriter/guitarist Richard and singer Linda Thompson. It was recorded in the summer of 1975 and released in November 1975....
album.
On 10 June 2010 Thompson was awarded the Mojo
Mojo (magazine)
MOJO is a popular music magazine published initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer, monthly in the United Kingdom. Following the success of the magazine Q, publishers Emap were looking for a title which would cater for the burgeoning interest in classic rock music...
Les Paul Award for "Guitar Legend".
Richard and Linda Thompson performed a duet at the 12 June 2010 Meltdown Festival tribute concert to Kate McGarrigle
Kate McGarrigle
Kate McGarrigle, CM was a Canadian folk music singer-songwriter, who wrote and performed as a duo with her sister Anna McGarrigle....
, which Richard coordinated. It was their first performance together in nearly three decades.
On 31 August 2010 Thompson released a new live album through Shout! Factory. The album, entitled Dream Attic
Dream Attic
Dream Attic is an album by Richard Thompson released in 2010.-Overview:Instead of recording new songs in a studio, Thompson made demo recordings, rehearsed the songs with his band...
, is composed of entirely new songs recorded live on tour with no studio overdubbing. The recording and touring band consisted of Thompson,
Pete Zorn, (acoustic guitar
Acoustic guitar
An acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
, flute, saxophone
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
, mandolin, vocals); Michael Jerome
Michael Jerome
Michael Jerome Moore, born in Wichita, Kansas, is an American rock musician and drummer. Jerome is a former member of the Toadies , Course of Empire and James Hall's band Pleasure Club, which was formed in 2002. He was also a member of the Saginaw, Texas band Pop Poppins...
(drums, vocals), Taras Prodaniuk, (bass guitar, vocals); and Joel Zifkin
Joel Zifkin
Joel Zifkin is a Canadian musician and songwriter born in Montreal on April 14, 1954. He is best known as a session and live musician for artists such as Kate and Anna McGarrigle and Richard Thompson...
, (electric violin
Electric violin
An electric violin is a violin equipped with an electronic output of its sound. The term most properly refers to an instrument purposely made to be electrified with built-in pickups, usually with a solid body...
, mandolin, vocals). Dream Attic
Dream Attic
Dream Attic is an album by Richard Thompson released in 2010.-Overview:Instead of recording new songs in a studio, Thompson made demo recordings, rehearsed the songs with his band...
was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album
Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album
The Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album was awarded from 1987 to 2011. Until 1993 the award was known as the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Recording. In 2007, this category was renamed Best Contemporary Folk/Americana Album...
.
Side projects and collaborations
Over the years Thompson has participated in many projects with other musicians.In between leaving Fairport Convention
Fairport Convention
Fairport Convention are an English folk rock and later electric folk band, formed in 1967 who are still recording and touring today. They are widely regarded as the most important single group in the English folk rock movement...
in early 1971 and releasing his debut solo album in 1972 he undertook a large amount of session
Session musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...
work, most notably on albums by John Martyn, Al Stewart
Al Stewart
Al Stewart is a Scottish singer-songwriter and folk-rock musician.Stewart came to stardom as part of the British folk revival in the 1960s and 1970s, and developed his own unique style of combining folk-rock songs with delicately woven tales of the great characters and events from history.He is...
, Matthews Southern Comfort, Sandy Denny
Sandy Denny
Sandy Denny , born Alexandra Elene Maclean Denny, was an English singer and songwriter, perhaps best known as the lead singer for the folk rock band Fairport Convention...
and Nick Drake
Nick Drake
Nicholas Rodney "Nick" Drake was an English singer-songwriter and musician. Though he is best known for his sombre guitar based songs, Drake was also proficient at piano, clarinet and saxophone...
.
During the same period he also worked on two collaborative projects. Morris On
Morris On
Morris On is a folk/rock album released in 1972 under the joint names of Ashley Hutchings, Richard Thompson, Dave Mattacks, John Kirkpatrick and Barry Dransfield...
was recorded with Ashley Hutchings
Ashley Hutchings
Ashley Stephen Hutchings is an English bassist, vocalist, songwriter, arranger, band leader, writer and record producer. He was a founder member of three of the most noteworthy English folk-rock bands in the history of the genre; Fairport Convention, Steeleye Span and The Albion Band...
, John Kirkpatrick, Dave Mattacks
Dave Mattacks
Dave Mattacks is a rock and folk drummer. Best known for his work with Fairport Convention, Mattacks has also worked both as a session musician, and as a performance artist...
and Barry Dransfield, and was a collection of English traditional tunes arranged for electric instruments. The Bunch were almost the reverse conceptually — a grouping of English folk rock
Folk rock
Folk rock is a musical genre combining elements of folk music and rock music. In its earliest and narrowest sense, the term referred to a genre that arose in the United States and the UK around the mid-1960s...
musicians (including Sandy Denny
Sandy Denny
Sandy Denny , born Alexandra Elene Maclean Denny, was an English singer and songwriter, perhaps best known as the lead singer for the folk rock band Fairport Convention...
, Linda Peters
Linda Thompson (singer)
Linda Thompson is a British singer. Born Linda Pettifer in Hackney, Thompson became one of the most recognised names—and voices—in the British folk rock movement of the 1970s and 1980s, in collaboration with her former husband and fellow British folk rock musician, guitarist Richard...
and members of Fairport Convention
Fairport Convention
Fairport Convention are an English folk rock and later electric folk band, formed in 1967 who are still recording and touring today. They are widely regarded as the most important single group in the English folk rock movement...
) recording a selection of classic rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
tunes.
Thompson has continued to guest on albums by an array of artists, from Crowded House
Crowded House
Crowded House are a rock band, formed in Melbourne, Australia and led by New Zealand singer-songwriter Neil Finn. Finn is the primary songwriter and creative director of the band, having led it through several incarnations, drawing members from New Zealand , Australia and the United States...
, Bonnie Raitt
Bonnie Raitt
Bonnie Lynn Raitt is an American blues singer-songwriter and a renowned slide guitar player. During the 1970s, Raitt released a series of acclaimed roots-influenced albums which incorporated elements of blues, rock, folk and country, but she is perhaps best known for her more commercially...
and Vivian Stanshall
Vivian Stanshall
Vivian Stanshall was an English singer-songwriter, painter, musician, author, poet and wit, best known for his work with the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, for his surreal exploration of the British upper classes in Sir Henry at Rawlinson End, and for narrating Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells.-The great...
, to 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...
and Beausoleil
Beausoleil
BeauSoleil is an American musical group specializing in Cajun music. Based in Lafayette, Louisiana, the group members are brothers Michael Doucet and David Doucet , Jimmy Breaux , Billy Ware , Tommy Alesi , and Mitchell Reed .-Band history:Founded in 1975, BeauSoleil BeauSoleil (French, beautiful...
and folk artists like Loudon Wainwright III
Loudon Wainwright III
Loudon Snowden Wainwright III is a Grammy Award-winning American songwriter, folk singer, humorist, and actor. He is the father of musicians Rufus Wainwright, Martha Wainwright and Lucy Wainwright Roche, brother of Sloan Wainwright, and the former husband of the late folk singer Kate McGarrigle.To...
, Cathal McConnell and Bob Davenport. He has also performed and recorded with Teddy Thompson
Teddy Thompson
Teddy Thompson is a British folk and rock musician. He is the son of folk-rock musicians Richard and Linda Thompson and brother of singer Kamila Thompson...
, his son from his marriage to Linda Thompson
Linda Thompson (singer)
Linda Thompson is a British singer. Born Linda Pettifer in Hackney, Thompson became one of the most recognised names—and voices—in the British folk rock movement of the 1970s and 1980s, in collaboration with her former husband and fellow British folk rock musician, guitarist Richard...
.
Fairport Convention
Fairport Convention are an English folk rock and later electric folk band, formed in 1967 who are still recording and touring today. They are widely regarded as the most important single group in the English folk rock movement...
's annual Cropredy Festival
Cropredy Festival
Fairport's Cropredy Convention is an annual festival of folk and rock music held on the edge of the village of Cropredy in Oxfordshire, England. It has taken place in August since 1976....
, both in his own right and as a participant in sets with current and previous Fairport members. (He once joked that Fairport Convention is a bit like the Hotel California
Hotel California
Hotel California is the fifth studio album released by the American rock band the Eagles, in late 1976. It is the first Eagles album without founding member Bernie Leadon and the first album with Joe Walsh. It is also the last album featuring original bass player and singer Randy Meisner...
: "you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.") These sets are seldom confined to performances of songs out of the Thompson or Fairport Convention canons, and in recent years some surprise offerings have included the soul classic "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" (with Thompson backed by the Roy Wood
Roy Wood
Roy Adrian Wood is an English singer-songwriter and musician. He was particularly successful in the 1960s and 1970s as member and co-founder of the bands The Move, Electric Light Orchestra, and Wizzard. As a songwriter, he contributed a number of hits to the repertoire of these bands.-Career:Wood...
Big Band), The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
' "I'm Down" and even "The Lady Is a Tramp".
Thompson has displayed a penchant for the avant garde as well, working with former Pere Ubu
Pere Ubu (band)
Pere Ubu is an experimental rock music group formed in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1975. Despite many long-term band members, singer David Thomas is the only constant...
singer David Thomas
David Thomas (musician)
David Lynn Thomas is an American singer, songwriter, and musician.He was one of the founding members of the short-lived protopunkers Rocket From The Tombs , where he went by the name of Crocus Behemoth, and of punk group Pere Ubu . He has also released several solo albums...
's grouping The Pedestrians on two albums in 1981 and 1982, respectively. In the 1980s, he was associated with a loose-fitting group called The Golden Palominos
The Golden Palominos
The Golden Palominos was an American musical group headed by drummer and composer Anton Fier, first formed in 1981. Aside from Fier, the Palominos membership was wildly elastic, with only bassist Bill Laswell and guitarist Nicky Skopelitis appearing on every album.While the Palominos' records...
, who were led by drummer Anton Fier
Anton Fier
Anton Fier, , is an American drummer, composer and bandleader. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio.Fier was an early member of The Lounge Lizards and The Feelies. He was in The Lodge , worked with Pere Ubu, was briefly in the Voidoids and founded The Golden Palominos...
and included at times on stage and on record Jack Bruce
Jack Bruce
John Symon Asher "Jack" Bruce is a Scottish musician and songwriter, respected as a founding member of the British psychedelic rock power trio, Cream, for a solo career that spans several decades, and for his participation in several well-known musical ensembles...
, Michael Stipe
Michael Stipe
John Michael Stipe is an American singer and lyricist. He was the lead vocalist of the alternative rock band R.E.M.Stipe is noted and occasionally parodied for the "mumbling" style of his early career as well as his social and political activism. He was in charge of R.E.M.'s visual image; often...
, Carla Bley
Carla Bley
Carla Bley, née Borg, is an American jazz composer, pianist, organist and band leader. An important figure in the Free Jazz movement of the 1960s, she is perhaps best known for her jazz opera Escalator Over The Hill , as well as a book of compositions that have been performed by many other...
, John Lydon
John Lydon
John Joseph Lydon , also known by the former stage name Johnny Rotten, is a singer-songwriter and television presenter, best known as the lead singer of punk rock band the Sex Pistols from 1975 until 1978, and again for various revivals during the 1990s and 2000s...
, Bill Laswell
Bill Laswell
Bill Laswell is an American bassist, producer and record label owner....
and others. He has worked with experimental guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
Henry Kaiser
Henry Kaiser (musician)
Henry Kaiser is an American guitarist and composer.Recording and performing prolifically in many styles of music, Kaiser is a fixture on the San Francisco Bay Area music scene. He is considered a member of the "first generation" of American free improvisers.-Biography:His grandfather was the...
, most notably as part of the ad hoc grouping French Frith Kaiser Thompson
French Frith Kaiser Thompson
French Frith Kaiser Thompson was a United States experimental rock quartet comprising John French, Fred Frith, Henry Kaiser and Richard Thompson. The band was formed in 1987 to create an album, Live, Love, Larf & Loaf...
with whom he recorded two albums. In 1997 he worked with long-time friend and band member Danny Thompson
Danny Thompson
Daniel Henry Edward 'Danny' Thompson is an English multi-instrumentalist best known as a double bassist and businessman...
to record a concept album
Concept album
In music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical." Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing...
Industry that dealt with the decline of British industry. A year later he worked with early music
Early music
Early music is generally understood as comprising all music from the earliest times up to the Renaissance. However, today this term has come to include "any music for which a historically appropriate style of performance must be reconstructed on the basis of surviving scores, treatises,...
expert Philip Pickett
Philip Pickett
Philip Pickett is an English musician, recorder player and director of early music ensembles, notably The New London Consort.- Student days :...
on the acclaimed Bones of All Men which fused renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
tunes with contemporary music.
In recent years Thompson has devised and toured his show 1000 Years of Popular Music
1000 Years of Popular Music
1000 Years of Popular Music is a live album by Richard Thompson.The album was originally conceived after Thompson was ignored by Playboy magazine; initially meant simply as a list to be printed by the magazine, it was subsequently published into CD format. The songs comprising the tracklist cover a...
. The inspiration for this came when Playboy
Playboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
magazine asked Thompson (and many other music industry figures) in 1999 for their suggestions for the "top ten songs of the millennium". Guessing that Playboy expected most people's lists to start at around 1950, Thompson took them at their word and presented a list of songs from the 11th century to the present day. Perhaps not surprisingly, Playboy didn't use his list, but the exercise gave him the idea for a show which takes a chronological trip through popular music across the ages. Thompson acknowledges that this is an ambitious undertaking, partly because he reckons that he is technically unqualified to sing 98% of the material, and partly because of the spare musical setting he restricts himself to: besides his acoustic guitar, he's backed by singer/pianist Judith Owen
Judith Owen
Judith Owen is a Welsh singer-songwriter. Her first North American album, Emotions on a Postcard, was released in 1996, and has since been followed by five additional releases...
and a percussionist/singer (Debra Dobkin). A typical performance would start with a medieval round, progress via a Purcell
Henry Purcell
Henry Purcell – 21 November 1695), was an English organist and Baroque composer of secular and sacred music. Although Purcell incorporated Italian and French stylistic elements into his compositions, his legacy was a uniquely English form of Baroque music...
aria, Victorian music-hall and Hoagy Carmichael
Hoagy Carmichael
Howard Hoagland "Hoagy" Carmichael was an American composer, pianist, singer, actor, and bandleader. He is best known for writing "Stardust", "Georgia On My Mind", "The Nearness of You", and "Heart and Soul", four of the most-recorded American songs of all time.Alec Wilder, in his study of the...
and climax with Thompson's unique take on the Britney Spears
Britney Spears
Britney Jean Spears is an American recording artist and entertainer. Born in McComb, Mississippi, and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana, Spears began performing as a child, landing acting roles in stage productions and television shows. She signed with Jive Records in 1997 and released her debut album...
hit "Oops!... I Did It Again
Oops!... I Did It Again (song)
"Oops!... I Did It Again" is a song by American recording artist Britney Spears. The song was written and produced by Max Martin and Rami for Spears' second studio album, Oops!... I Did It Again . It was released on March 27, 2000 by Jive Records, as the first single from the album. "Oops!.....
".
In 2004 Thompson was asked to create the soundtrack music for the Werner Herzog
Werner Herzog
Werner Herzog Stipetić , known as Werner Herzog, is a German film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and opera director.He is often considered as one of the greatest figures of the New German Cinema, along with Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Margarethe von Trotta, Volker Schlöndorff, Werner...
documentary Grizzly Man
Grizzly Man
Grizzly Man is a 2005 American documentary film by German director Werner Herzog. It chronicles the life and death of bear enthusiast Timothy Treadwell. The film consists of Treadwell's own footage of his interactions with grizzly bears before he and his girlfriend were killed and eaten by a bear...
. The score, which was recorded over a two-day period in December 2004, brought Thompson together with a group of improvisational musicians, mostly from the San Francisco Bay area
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...
; video footage from the sessions was edited into a mini-documentary, In the Edges, which was included with the DVD release of Grizzly Man.
In 2009 Thompson was commissioned to write a piece for the International Society of Bassists in honor of Danny Thompson. The resulting Cabaret of Souls, a musical play set in the underworld, has been performed in State College (Pennsylvania), London, and Los Angeles with a cast that includes Harry Shearer, Judith Owen, Debra Dobkin, Pete Zorn, either Danny Thompson or David Piltch, and a 12-piece string section conducted by Peter Askim.
Retrospectives and tributes
Thompson has been well-served by compilers of retrospective collections. These are partly aimed at curious new listeners who are interested in hearing more of him, but are also essential purchases for more committed fans, since they contain material which is unavailable elsewhere. 1976's (guitar, vocal)(guitar, vocal)
is a 1976 album by Richard Thompson. It was released by Island Records as a career retrospective after he and his wife Linda had gone into semi-retirement from the business of making and performing music following the release of Pour Down Like Silver .Most tracks are unreleased recordings from...
was a collection of unreleased material from the previous eight years of Thompson's appearances on the Island
Island Records
Island Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...
label. The 3-CD set Watching the Dark
Watching the Dark
Watching the Dark is an album by Richard Thompson released in 1993.This 3-CD retrospective set was compiled with Thompson's co-operation and consent...
is a generous combination of his better-known songs and previously unreleased live and studio tracks. Action Packed
Action Packed
Action Packed is a music album by Richard Thompson released in 2001.The album is a retrospective look at Thompson's time with Capitol Records and brings together songs from each of the albums that he recorded for that label....
is a compilation of tracks from his Capitol releases, plus three hard-to-find songs. Finally, in 2006, the independent label Free Reed released RT: The Life and Music of Richard Thompson, a 5-CD box set consisting almost entirely of previously unreleased performances of songs from throughout Thompson's long career.
Thompson's songs have been extensively covered; for example, Dimming of the Day
Dimming of the Day
"Dimming of the Day" is a song written by Richard Thompson and performed with his then-wife Linda Thompson on the 1975 album Pour Down Like Silver....
has been performed by artists such as The Neville Brothers
The Neville Brothers
The Neville Brothers, an American R&B and soul group, was formed in 1977 in New Orleans, Louisiana.-History:The group notion started in 1976, when the four brothers of the Neville family, Art , Charles , Aaron , and Cyril The Neville Brothers, an American R&B and soul group, was formed in 1977 in...
, Bonnie Raitt
Bonnie Raitt
Bonnie Lynn Raitt is an American blues singer-songwriter and a renowned slide guitar player. During the 1970s, Raitt released a series of acclaimed roots-influenced albums which incorporated elements of blues, rock, folk and country, but she is perhaps best known for her more commercially...
, Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris is an American singer-songwriter and musician. In addition to her work as a solo artist and bandleader, both as an interpreter of other composers' works and as a singer-songwriter, she is a sought-after backing vocalist and duet partner, working with numerous other artists including...
, David Gilmour
David Gilmour
David Jon Gilmour, CBE, D.M. is an English rock musician and multi-instrumentalist who is best known as the guitarist, one of the lead singers and main songwriters in the progressive rock band Pink Floyd. In addition to his work with Pink Floyd, Gilmour has worked as a producer for a variety of...
, The Blind Boys of Alabama
The Blind Boys of Alabama
The Blind Boys of Alabama are a gospel group from Alabama that first formed at the Alabama Institute for the Negro Blind at Talladega, Alabama in 1939. The three main vocalists of the group and their drummer/percussionist are all blind....
, The Corrs
The Corrs
The Corrs are an Irish band which combine pop rock with traditional Celtic folk music. The brother and sisters are from Dundalk, Ireland. The group consists of the Corr siblings: Andrea ; Sharon ; Caroline ; and Jim .The Corrs came to international prominence with their performance at the...
and Alison Krauss and Union Station. There have been several tribute compilations of other artists' interpretations of his work, including: Capitol
Capitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
's Beat the Retreat: Songs by Richard Thompson and Green Linnet's The World Is a Wonderful Place: The Songs of Richard Thompson, both released in 1994.
Playing style
Thompson makes use of the "pick and fingers" technique (sometimes referred to as "hybrid pickingHybrid picking
Hybrid picking is a guitar-playing technique that involves picking with a pick and one or more fingers alternately or simultaneously. Hybrid picking allows guitar players who use a pick to perform music which would normally require fingerstyle playing. It also facilitates wide string leaps Hybrid...
") where he plays bass notes and rhythm with a pick between his first finger and thumb, and adds melody and punctuation by plucking the treble strings with his fingers. He also makes use of different guitar tunings
Guitar tunings
Guitar tunings almost always refers to the pitch of the open string, though some tunings may only realistically be attained by the use of a capo on an unmodified instrument....
, such as (low to high) CGDGBE, DADGBE
Drop D tuning
Drop D tuning, also known as DADGBE, is an alternate, or scordatura, form of guitar tuning — specifically, a dropped tuning — in which the lowest string is tuned down from the usual E of standard tuning by one whole step to D.- Uses of drop D tuning :In drop D the three bass strings...
, DADGAD
DADGAD
DADGAD, D modal tuning or Celtic tuning is an alternative guitar tuning most associated with Celtic music, though it has also found use in rock and other genres. Instead of the standard EADGBE tuning, the six guitar strings are tuned, from low to high, DADGAD...
, and more. This enables him to adapt traditional songs, as on Strict Tempo!
Strict Tempo! (album)
Strict Tempo! is an instrumental album by Richard Thompson released in 1981.After the modest sales for their 1979 album Sunnyvista, Richard and Linda Thompson found themselves without a record deal...
and 1000 Years of Popular Music
1000 Years of Popular Music
1000 Years of Popular Music is a live album by Richard Thompson.The album was originally conceived after Thompson was ignored by Playboy magazine; initially meant simply as a list to be printed by the magazine, it was subsequently published into CD format. The songs comprising the tracklist cover a...
. Thompson occasionally makes use of a thumb-pick, playing in fingerstyle, the most notable example being on the motorcycle ballad "1952 Vincent Black Lightning."
Electric
Thompson is often associated with the Fender Stratocaster guitar. He has made prominent use of Stratocasters, as he has a general preference for the sound of single coilSingle coil
A single coil pickup is a type of magnetic transducer, or pickup, for the electric guitar and the electric bass. It electromagnetically converts the vibration of the strings to an electric signal...
pickups.
“When I started playing Fenders in 1968, it was unfashionable because everyone in England was playing Gibsons and trying to get a big, fat sound like Eric Clapton had in Cream. I just wanted a little more bite."
Prior to using a Stratocaster with Fairport Convention he used a Gibson Les Paul with P-90
P-90
The P-90 is a single coil electric guitar pickup produced by Gibson since 1946. Having a more complex architecture and larger dimensions than Fender's single coils, it is occasionally mistaken for a humbucker.- History :...
pickups. he then switched to a late 60s Stratocaster. Since leaving Fairport Convention he has continued to use electric guitars with single coil pickups, most famously a late 50’s Stratocaster but also two custom built electrics by Danny Ferrington as well as other Stratocasters, various Telecaster-type guitars and, in the studio, a Danelectro
Danelectro
Danelectro is an American manufacturer of musical instruments and accessories, specializing in rock instruments such as guitars, bass guitars, amplifiers and effects units.-History:...
U2.
As regards effects
Effects unit
Effects units are electronic devices that alter how a musical instrument or other audio source sounds. Some effects subtly "color" a sound, while others transform it dramatically. Effects are used during live performances or in the studio, typically with electric guitar, keyboard and bass...
, he has made significant use of modulation and vibrato
Vibrato
Vibrato is a musical effect consisting of a regular, pulsating change of pitch. It is used to add expression to vocal and instrumental music. Vibrato is typically characterised in terms of two factors: the amount of pitch variation and the speed with which the pitch is varied .-Vibrato and...
type effects pedals, most notably the Univibe
Univibe
The Uni-Vibe is a footpedal-operated phaser or phase shifter for creating chorus and vibrato simulations for electric organ or guitar. It was introduced in the 1960s by Shin-ei, and was intended to emulate the "Doppler sound" of a Leslie speaker...
and emulations thereof.
Thompson has made intermittent use of Roland
Roland Corporation
is a Japanese manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, electronic equipment and software. It was founded by Ikutaro Kakehashi in Osaka on April 18, 1972, with ¥33 million in capital. In 2005 Roland's headquarters relocated to Hamamatsu in Shizuoka Prefecture. Today it has factories in Japan,...
's GK-1 pickup and GL-2 synthesizer over the years. He made use of these devices on 1979's Sunnyvista album and has occasionally used them in concert.
Acoustic
Since the early 90s Thompson has made prominent use of LowdenGeorge Lowden
George Lowden is a guitar maker, luthier, based in Downpatrick, County Down, Northern Ireland. He constructs acoustic guitars, steel and nylon strung.-Company:...
acoustic guitars for studio and live work. Prior to this he used a Martin 000-18 as well as instruments built by Danny Ferrington.
For live work his acoustic guitars are fitted with a Sunrise pickup and an internal condenser microphone. The output from the pickup is usually fed into some effects pedals, typically a delay pedal and a Univibe
Univibe
The Uni-Vibe is a footpedal-operated phaser or phase shifter for creating chorus and vibrato simulations for electric organ or guitar. It was introduced in the 1960s by Shin-ei, and was intended to emulate the "Doppler sound" of a Leslie speaker...
.
Brief discography
Only albums under Thompson's own name, and comprising only or mostly newly released material are included here. These are the albums that represent the solid corpus of his work as a songwriter and recording artist. For a more complete listing of his albums see the main Richard Thompson discographyRichard Thompson discography
Richard Thompson's discography is extensive, numbering over 60 albums in his own name, as a member of Fairport Convention or as a participant in various collaborative projects...
.
- Henry the Human FlyHenry the Human FlyHenry the Human Fly was the first solo album by British singer/songwriter/guitarist Richard Thompson. It was originally released in Britain in April 1972 on the Island label and in the US on the Reprise label....
(1972) - I Want to See the Bright Lights TonightI Want to See the Bright Lights TonightQ : "After his 1971 departure from Fairport Convention, Richard Thompson found his ideal foil in recent bride Linda. A hugely inventive guitarist, he gives full vent to his talent on this dark, brooding album...
(1974) - Hokey PokeyHokey Pokey (album)Hokey Pokey is the second album by the British duo of singer Linda and singer/songwriter/guitarist Richard Thompson. It was recorded in the autumn of 1974 and released in 1975....
(1975) - Pour Down Like SilverPour Down Like SilverPour Down Like Silver is the third album by the British duo of singer/songwriter/guitarist Richard and singer Linda Thompson. It was recorded in the summer of 1975 and released in November 1975....
(1975) - First Light (1978)
- SunnyvistaSunnyvistaSunnyvista, released in October 1979 is the fifth album by Richard and Linda Thompson.After the artistic mismatch of the previous year's come back album , the Thompsons made greater use on this album of backing musicians that they had worked with previously.Sunnyvista is a curate's egg of an album...
(1979) - Shoot Out the LightsShoot Out the LightsShoot Out the Lights is the sixth and final album by British husband-and-wife folk rock duo Richard and Linda Thompson. It was produced by Joe Boyd and released in 1982 on his Hannibal label...
(1982) - Hand of KindnessHand of KindnessHand Of Kindness is an album by Richard Thompson recorded and released in 1983.After the "Tour From Hell" to promote Shoot Out The Lights Richard Thompson resumed a solo career as a recording and performing artist....
(1983) - Across a Crowded RoomAcross a Crowded RoomAcross a Crowded Room is an album by Richard Thompson released in 1985.In 1984 Thompson's management negotiated a contract with Polydor which gave him some financial security for the first time in over a decade. Across A Crowded Room was the first album recorded under this new contract...
(1985) - Daring AdventuresDaring AdventuresDaring Adventures is an album by Richard Thompson, released in 1986.After sales of his 1985 release Across a Crowded Room had not met expectations, Thompson was under pressure from his record label to deliver with his next album....
(1986) - AmnesiaAmnesia (album)Amnesia is an album by Richard Thompson, recorded and released in 1988.After Across a Crowded Room and Daring Adventures had not troubled the compilers of hit parades, Polydor declined their option to renew their contract with Thompson...
(1988) - Rumor and SighRumor and SighRumor and Sigh is an album by Richard Thompson released in 1991.This album is one of the artistic high-points of Richard Thompson's career, and is his most commercially successful album to date...
(1991) - Mirror BlueMirror BlueMirror Blue is an album by Richard Thompson released in 1994.The follow-up to 1991's successful Rumor And Sigh was recorded in January 1993 with Mitchell Froom once again in the producer’s chair. Despite the increase in sales for his previous two albums, Mirror Blue was held back...
(1994) - You? Me? Us?You? Me? Us?You? Me? Us? is an album by British singer-songwriter Richard Thompson released in April 1996 via Capitol Records. It was Thompson's fourth album for the label, his fifth with Mitchell Froom producing and his second to be nominated for a Grammy Award...
(1996) - Mock TudorMock Tudor (album)Mock Tudor is an album by Richard Thompson released in 1999.For this, his fifth album for Capitol Records, Thompson teamed up with producers Tom Rothrock and Rob Schnapf, and Mock Tudor had a more straightforward production than his preceding albums on Capitol which had been produced by Mitchell...
(1999) - The Old Kit BagThe Old Kit BagThe Old Kit Bag is an album released in 2003 by British guitarist Richard Thompson. The title refers to the World War I marching song "Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit-Bag". When asked if the album had a theme, Thompson had no immediate answer, then said "I suppose the title is a theme of sorts...
(2003) - Front Parlour BalladsFront Parlour BalladsFront Parlour Ballads is an album by Richard Thompson released in 2005.His 2005 release on the Cooking Vinyl label was a literally homemade album. Thompson's aim was to create an album that sounded small and intimate...
(2005) - 1000 Years of Popular Music1000 Years of Popular Music1000 Years of Popular Music is a live album by Richard Thompson.The album was originally conceived after Thompson was ignored by Playboy magazine; initially meant simply as a list to be printed by the magazine, it was subsequently published into CD format. The songs comprising the tracklist cover a...
(2006) - Sweet WarriorSweet Warrior (album)Sweet Warrior is an album by Richard Thompson released in 2007. Thompson financed the recording of this album himself and then licensed the finished album to various labels for distribution. On its release, Sweet Warrior entered Amazon.com's top 20 for music sales.-Overview:The track "Dad's Gonna...
(2007) - Dream AtticDream AtticDream Attic is an album by Richard Thompson released in 2010.-Overview:Instead of recording new songs in a studio, Thompson made demo recordings, rehearsed the songs with his band...
(2010)