Peter Bellamy

about

Peter Franklyn Bellamy (8 September 1944 – 24 September 1991) was an English folk singer. He was a founding member of The Young Tradition but also had a long solo career, recording numerous albums and touring folk clubs and concert halls. He committed suicide in 1991. Early years Peter Bellamy spent his formative years in his native North Norfolk, living in the village of Warham and attending Fakenham Grammar School in the late 1950s/early 1960s. His father worked as a foreman on the local farm. He studied at Norwich Art College and later at Maidenhead Art College after the Norwich school was closed under Peter Blake and decades later still retained something of the flamboyant art student image, being described as looking like a latter-day Andy Warhol, with blond hair, a scarlet jacket and yellow trousers. Encouraged by his friend Anne Briggs he dropped out of college in 1965 to become a member of The Young Tradition with Royston Wood and Heather Wood (no relation to Royston). The trio recorded mainly traditional songs in close harmony and mostly without accompaniment. The Young Tradition projected their voices powerfully, clearly influenced by The Watersons, the Copper Family and Ewan MacColl. They recorded three albums together plus a collaboration with Shirley Collins called The Holly Bears The Crown. Although recorded in 1969 it was not released in full until the 90s. The Young Tradition's final concert was at Cecil Sharp House in October 1969, after which they split u

top songs

albums

Fair Annie & Peter Bellamy

Mr Bellamy, Mr Kipling & The Tradition

Both Sides Then

The Barrack Room Ballads of Rudyard Kipling

The Fox Jumps Over The Parson's Gate

Electric Eden: Unearthing Britain's Visionary Music

The Maritime Suite: We Have Fed Our Sea for a Thousand Years (Songs of the Sea from the Saxons to the 19th Century)

▥

Eileen Aroon c120

▥

The Acoustic Folk Box (Disc 2)

Oak, Ash & Thorn

Merlin's Isle of Gramarye

▥

Beginners Guide To English Folk

similar artists