The Watersons were an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 folk

Folk music

Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

 group from Hull

Kingston upon Hull

Kingston upon Hull , usually referred to as Hull, is a city and unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Hull at its junction with the Humber estuary, 25 miles inland from the North Sea. Hull has a resident population of...

, Yorkshire

Yorkshire

Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...

. They performed mainly traditional songs with little or no accompaniment. Their distinctive sound came from their closely woven harmonies.

Career

Original members were Norma

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...

, Mike

Mike Waterson

Michael Waterson was an English writer, songwriter and folk singer.Waterson was born in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. He is best known as a member of The Watersons, with his sisters Lal Waterson and Norma Waterson and his brother-in-law Martin Carthy...

, and Lal Waterson

Lal Waterson

Lal Waterson was an English folksinger and songwriter. She sang with, among others, The Watersons, The Waterdaughters and Blue Murder. She was born in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire and died suddenly in Robin Hood's Bay, of cancer diagnosed only ten days before...

, with their cousin John Harrison from Kingston High School

Kingston High School, Hull

Kingston High School is a secondary school on Pickering Road in West Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England In 2001 the school was adjusted as many schools were reviewed by Hull City Council and became "Pickering High School Sports College".-Ex-pupils:*Amy Johnson*Tom Courtney*John Alderton* Alan...

. They had a skiffle

Skiffle

Skiffle is a type of popular music with jazz, blues, folk, roots and country influences, usually using homemade or improvised instruments. Originating as a term in the United States in the first half of the twentieth century, it became popular again in the UK in the 1950s, where it was mainly...

 band in the early 1960s but moved on to playing more traditional material. They were briefly known as "The Folksons".

Their first album

Album

An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

 was Frost and Fire 1965 (awarded the 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...

Album of the Year, a rarity for a debut album) followed by The Watersons and A Yorkshire Garland in 1966. The Watersons split up in 1968, when Norma went to work as a disc jockey

Disc jockey

A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...

 on a radio station on Montserrat

Montserrat

Montserrat is a British overseas territory located in the Leeward Islands, part of the chain of islands called the Lesser Antilles in the West Indies. This island measures approximately long and wide, giving of coastline...

.

The group reformed in 1972, with John Harrison briefly replaced by Bernie Vickers. In 1972 that the group performed and arranged the music for the Alan Plater

Alan Plater

Alan Frederick Plater, CBE, FRSL was an English playwright and screenwriter, who worked extensively in British television from the 1960s to the 2000s.-Career:...

 TV Play for Today

Play for Today

Play for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted...

, "The Land of Green Ginger", set and filmed in Hull. The band appeared in a scene filmed in the Bluebell Folk Club.

Vickers was replaced the same year by Norma's husband, 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...

. This line-up recorded For Pence and Spicy Ale (1975), Sound, Sound Your Instruments of Joy (1977), and Green Fields (1981).

Later line-ups featured Mike Waterson's daughter Rachel Waterson, who briefly replaced Lal during a leave of absence caused by ill health in the mid-1980s, then continued to sing with the group on Lal's return. This five-piece line up performed regularly during the late 1980s and recorded a session for the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 Andy Kershaw

Andy Kershaw

Andy Kershaw is a British broadcaster, known for his interest in world music.His shows feature a mix of country, blues, reggae, folk music, spoken word performance from the likes of Ivor Cutler, and other music from around the world.- Early Life :Kershaw and his sister, fellow broadcaster Liz...

 show in August 1986. In 1987, the group collaborated with Swan Arcade

Swan Arcade

Swan Arcade were a British folk music vocal group formed in 1970. "A leading light of the British folk revival" they sang a wide variety of songs, including blues, pop and rock and roll, as well as traditional folk music, mostly performed a cappella. Swan Arcade also performed with The Watersons...

 to form Blue Murder

Blue Murder (folk)

Blue Murder is an occasional English folk "supergroup", consisting at various times of various members of Swan Arcade, Coope Boyes and Simpson, Waterson:Carthy and The Watersons....

, who have performed and recorded sporadically with various line-ups to the present day. Subsequent Watersons line-ups fluctuated, featuring Eliza Carthy

Eliza Carthy

Eliza Carthy is an English folk musician known for both singing and playing fiddle. She is the daughter of English folk musicians singer/guitarist Martin Carthy and singer Norma Waterson.-Life and career:...

, Anne Waterson and Maria Gilhooley

Maria Gilhooley

Maria Gilhooley, also known as Marie Gilhooley, Marie Knight and Marie/Maria/Marry Waterson is a singer and artist best known for her contributions to numerous recordings and live performances by various members of the Waterson family....

 at various times, but recording only occasionally.

Lal Waterson died in 1998 and, by the early 1990s, Carthy, Norma Waterson and their daughter Eliza Carthy

Eliza Carthy

Eliza Carthy is an English folk musician known for both singing and playing fiddle. She is the daughter of English folk musicians singer/guitarist Martin Carthy and singer Norma Waterson.-Life and career:...

 had formed the group Waterson:Carthy

Waterson:Carthy

Waterson:Carthy are an English folk group originally comprising Norma Waterson on vocals, her husband Martin Carthy on guitar and vocals and their daughter Eliza Carthy on fiddle and vocals....

. The Watersons gradually ceased to sing live on a regular basis, but the family occasionally reconvened for special events and festival appearances, where they are usually billed as "The Waterson Family". These have included 'A Mighty River of Song

The Waterson Family: A Mighty River of Song

A Mighty River of Song was a unique concert performance by various members of the Waterson family on 12 May 2007 at the Royal Albert Hall in the Knightsbridge area of London, England....

' at the Royal Albert Hall

Royal Albert Hall

The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....

 on 12 May 2007, the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 Electric Proms concert, 'Once in a Blue Moon: A Tribute to Lal Waterson', at Cecil Sharp House in 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...

 on 25 October 2007 and 'A Tribute to Bert,' a concert celebrating the life and work of Albert Lloyd, at Cecil Sharp House on the 15 November 2008. During the summer of 2009, "The Waterson Family" performed at a number of festivals and large concerts throughout England and Ireland.

Mike Waterson died on 22 June 2011, aged 70.

Discography

• Various Artists: New Voices: An Album of First Recordings by Harry Boardman, Maureen Craik, The Waterson Family (1965)

The five Watersons tracks included on this album later formed part of the Early Days CD (1994)

• The Watersons: Frost and Fire: A Calendar of Ceremonial Folk Songs (1965)

Reissued on CD with additional tracks from Sound, Sound Your Instruments of Joy in 1990. Original album reissued on CD with remastered audio in 2007.

• The Watersons: The Watersons (1966)

All tracks included on this album later formed part of the Early Days CD (1994)

• The Watersons: A Yorkshire Garland (1966)

Ten of the original fourteen tracks later formed part of the Early Days CD (1994)

• Various Artists: Bright Phoebus: Songs by Lal & Mike Waterson (1972)

Briefly reissued on CD in 2000

• The Watersons: For Pence and Spicy Ale (1975)

Reissued on CD with additional tracks from A True Hearted Girl and Mike Waterson in 1993. Original album reissued on CD with remastered audio in 2008.

• Lal & Norma Waterson with Maria Waterson: A True Hearted Girl (1977)

Reissued on CD in 1999 with additional tracks

• Mike Waterson: Mike Waterson (1977)

Reissued on CD in 1999 with additional tracks

• The Watersons: Sound, Sound Your Instruments of Joy (1977)

Seven of the original fourteen tracks were included on the CD reissue of Frost and Fire in 1990. Original album reissued on CD with remastered audio in 2007.

• The Watersons: Green Fields (1981)

Reissued on CD with additional tracks from A True Hearted Girl and Mike Waterson in 1998

• The Watersons: Travelling for a Living (circa 1994)

Belated release of the 1965 BBC documentary on video. Later released on DVD as part of the Mighty River of Song box set (2004)

• The Watersons: Early Days
  Early Days (Watersons album)
  Early Days is a compilation album of recordings by The Watersons, released in 1994.These recordings come from New Voices , The Watersons and A Yorkshire Garland . There is a guitar on tracks 8, 10 and 11. Although it seems totally unremarkable now, at the time that these recordings were made, The...
  
  (1994)

Tracks from New Voices (1965), The Watersons (1966) and A Yorkshire Garland (1967) plus one previously unreleased track

• The Watersons: The Definitive Collection (2003)

19-track compilation

• The Watersons: Mighty River of Song (2004)

86-track, four CD, one DVD box set spanning over 40 years of Watersons and related recordings

• The Watersons: A Yorkshire Christmas (2005)

The Watersons and friends/guests recorded live in December 1980