Belinda O'Hooley

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Belinda O'Hooley
80 O'Hooley- Purbeck Valley Folk Festival 2024 - 56.jpg
O'Hooley at the Purbeck Valley Folk Festival 2024
Background information
Born Leeds, England
Genres Folk, chamber folk, singer-songwriter
Instrument(s)piano, vocal
Years active2004–present
Labels No Masters; Rabble Rouser; Hum Records
Website www.ohooleyandtidow.com

Belinda O'Hooley (born 18 July 1971) is a singer-songwriter and pianist from Yorkshire, England. Formerly a member of Rachel Unthank and the Winterset (now The Unthanks), she now records and performs as O'Hooley & Tidow with her wife Heidi Tidow (pronounced Tee-doe).

Contents

Early life and education

O'Hooley, who has Irish roots, [1] [2] was born in Horsforth, Leeds, [3] grew up in Guiseley and went to school in Menston. She studied behavioural sciences at the University of Huddersfield. [4]

Professional career

O'Hooley comes from a long line of County Sligo musicians and performed alongside her first cousin Tommy Fleming, [5] a singer who was formerly with De Danann. [2] [6]

Rachel Unthank and the Winterset

From 2004 until 2008 she was a member of Rachel Unthank and the Winterset (now The Unthanks). [4] Nic Oliver, reviewing their 2007 album The Bairns for musicOMH , described O'Hooley as "the ace in the pack throughout The Bairns. Her background in cabaret (intriguingly, she had once appeared on Stars In Their Eyes impersonating Annie Lennox) adds a left-field edge to the music, with her jazzy piano chords lending a sing-along feel to the live favourite Blue's Gaen Oot O'The Fashion. O'Hooley also contributes the two original tracks to the album, although the casual listener could quite easily mistake both Blackbird and Whitehorn [nb 1] for traditional songs". [7]

Solo albums

In 2005 O'Hooley released a solo album, Music is My Silence , described by reviewer David Kidman of Netrhythms.co.uk as "a commanding and defiant set of thoroughly contemporary-sounding songs" [6] and by FATEA as "a highly polished collection of songs that gently sway between folk and jazz". [8]

In 2019 she released a second solo album, Inversions , [9] described by Jude Rogers in The Guardian as "a set of beautiful piano and spoken-word pieces". [10]

O'Hooley & Tidow

O'Hooley & Tidow at the Purbeck Valley Folk Festival in 2024 80 O'Hooley & Tidow - Purbeck Valley Folk Festival 2024 - 53944694138.jpg
O'Hooley & Tidow at the Purbeck Valley Folk Festival in 2024

She has issued eight albums with Heidi Tidow, performing as O'Hooley & Tidow. Their 2016 album, Shadows , was given a five-starred review by Robin Denselow in The Guardian [11] and four of their other albums have received four-starred reviews in the British national press.

Coven

With Heidi Tidow she performs in the all-female group Coven, whose members also include Hannah James, Rowan Rheingans, Hazel Askew and Grace Petrie. In 2017, Coven released an EP, Unholy Choir. [12]

Other musical contributions

O'Hooley played piano on Jackie Oates' albums Jackie Oates (2006), [13] The Violet Hour (2008), [14] Hyperboreans (2009), [15] Saturnine (2011) [16] and Lullabies (2013). [17] With Heidi Tidow, she was also featured on Chumbawamba's album ABCDEFG (2010) [18] and DVD Going, Going – Live at Leeds City Varieties (2012), [19] Lucy Ward's debut album Adelphi Has to Fly (2011) [20] and Patsy Matheson's Domino Girls (2014). [21]

O'Hooley & Tidow were amongst the musicians on the album The Ballads of Child Migration: Songs for Britain's Child Migrants, released by Delphonic Records in October 2015. They contributed the music for one song on the album, "Why Did I Leave Thee?" [22]

O'Hooley also accompanied Nic Jones at London's Queen Elizabeth Hall on his 2011 comeback tour [23] and on further tours in 2012 and 2013. [24] [25] In 2015 O'Hooley accompanied Jim Boyes on his Sensations of a Wound tour, telling a little-known story of the First World War. An album of this music, Sensations of a Wound: The Long, Long Trail of Robert Riby Boyes, was released on the No Masters label in February 2015. [26] [27]

She appeared on Ray Hearne's album Umpteen in 2016. [28]

Other work

She had a small acting role as a plain-clothes police inspector in episode 1 of season 3 of Happy Valley , the TV programme created by Sally Wainwright who was also created the TV series Gentleman Jack . [29]

Discography

with Rachel Unthank and the Winterset

TitleFormatRelease dateLabelNotes
Cruel Sister album11 May 2005Rabble Rouser (RR005) (UK); Cortex (CTX392CD) (Australia)
The Bairns album28 August 2007 [30] EMI (50999 504 3802 0) / Rabble Rouser (50999 504 3802 0) (UK); Shock Records/ Rabble Rouser (Australia)
Real World Music (USCDRW158)/ Rykodisc (USA)
Includes two original songs by O'Hooley: "Blackbird" and "Whitethorn"

Belinda O'Hooley

TitleFormatRelease dateLabel
Music is My Silence album13 June 2005Rabble Rouser (RR001), distributed by Cadiz Music
Inversions album28 June 2019 No Masters (NMCD53), distributed by Proper Records

O'Hooley and Tidow

Belinda O'Hooley's recordings with Heidi Tidow are listed at O'Hooley & Tidow.

with Coven

TitleFormatRelease dateLabel
Unholy ChoirEP19 March 2017own label COVENCD01

Personal life

Belinda O'Hooley and her wife Heidi Tidow, who married in 2016, live in Golcar in West Yorkshire. They have a son, Flynn, born in September 2019. [31]

Notes

  1. The song is actually called "Whitethorn", as O'Hooley explains in an interview with David Peschek: "It's about my great-grandmother, struggling to survive in a tiny village in Ireland...She was pregnant 15 or 16 times and only two babies survived. Because they hadn't lived long enough to be christened, they weren't buried in the local churchyard, but under a whitethorn bush, actually near where my dad lives now. It really brought home to me the history of women's struggles, and made me want to write."
    David Peschek (14 September 2007). "In our family, singing is the law". The Guardian . Archived from the original on 5 October 2014. Retrieved 10 June 2011.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Unthanks</span> English folk group

The Unthanks are an English folk group known for their eclectic approach in combining traditional English folk, particularly Northumbrian folk music, with other musical genres. Their debut album, Cruel Sister, was Mojo magazine's Folk Album of the Year in 2005. Of their subsequent albums, nine have received four or five-starred reviews in the British national press. Their album Mount the Air, released in 2015, won in the best album category in the 2016 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. In 2017 they released two albums featuring the songs and poems of Molly Drake, mother of singer-songwriter and musician Nick Drake.

<i>The Bairns</i> (album) 2007 studio album by Rachel Unthank and the Winterset

The Bairns was the second album by Rachel Unthank and the Winterset, which then comprised Rachel Unthank, her younger sister Becky, pianist Belinda O'Hooley and fiddle player Niopha Keegan. Produced by Adrian McNally and released by Rabble Rouser on 20 August 2007, it was nominated for the Best Album award at the 2008 BBC Folk Awards and was also nominated for the 2008 Mercury Prize. It received a four-starred review in The Guardian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">O'Hooley & Tidow</span> English musicians

O'Hooley & Tidow are an English folk music duo from Yorkshire. Singer-songwriter Heidi Tidow performs and records with her wife, singer-songwriter and pianist Belinda O'Hooley, who was formerly a member of Rachel Unthank and the Winterset. O'Hooley & Tidow were nominated for Best Duo at the 2013 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. Their 2016 album Shadows was given a five-star review in The Guardian, and four of their other albums, including their 2017 release WinterFolk Volume 1, have received four-star reviews in the British national press. From 2019 to 2022, their song "Gentleman Jack", from the album The Fragile, featured as the closing theme for the BBC/HBO television series Gentleman Jack. Their album Cloudheads was released on 21 April 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lucy Ward (musician)</span> Musical artist

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<i>Cruel Sister</i> (Rachel Unthank and the Winterset album) 2005 studio album by Rachel Unthank and the Winterset

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<i>Music Is My Silence</i> 2005 studio album by Belinda OHooley

Music is My Silence, the first album by Belinda O'Hooley, was released on 13 June 2005 on the Rabble Rouser label, distributed by Cadiz Music. Reviewer David Kidman of Netrhythms.com described it as "a commanding and defiant set of thoroughly contemporary-sounding songs".

<i>Silent June</i> 2010 studio album by OHooley & Tidow

Silent June is the first album by O'Hooley & Tidow. Recorded between August and November 2009 at their home in Golcar, Huddersfield, it was released on 22 February 2010 on the No Masters label, distributed by Proper Records.

<i>The Fragile</i> (OHooley & Tidow album) 2012 studio album by OHooley & Tidow

The Fragile, the second album by the folk music duo O'Hooley & Tidow, was released on 9 February 2012 on the No Masters label. It received a four-starred review in The Guardian. The album's title is derived from the words of one of its songs, "Mein Deern", about the dying hours of Heidi Tidow's German grandmother. The album features guest performances by Andy Cutting, Jackie Oates, Jude Abbott, Cormac Byrne, Anna Esslemont, Sam Pegg, The Solo Players and London's Diversity Choir.

<i>The Hum</i> (OHooley & Tidow album) 2014 studio album by OHooley & Tidow

The Hum, the third album by the folk music duo O'Hooley & Tidow, was released on 17 February 2014 and received four-starred reviews in The Guardian and The Irish Times. Inspired by the sights and sounds of the Colne Valley, it has been described as "a collection of songs paying homage to the West Riding village of Golcar", the former industrial village in the West Riding of Yorkshire where Belinda O'Hooley and Heidi Tidow share a home together.

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<i>Summats Brewin</i> 2015 studio album by OHooley & Tidow

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Adrian McNally is a record producer, a composer/songwriter and a musician with English folk group the Unthanks, which he also manages. As well as producing all of the Unthanks' albums he has produced the compilation album Harbour of Songs for which he was commissioned by The Stables in Milton Keynes as part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad, an album for Belinda O'Hooley and albums for Jonny Kearney & Lucy Farrell.

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