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Samuel Charles Lakeman (born 6 November 1975) is an English musician, songwriter, and producer and co-owner of Charcoal Records.
Lakeman was brought up in the village of Buckland Monachorum, near Yelverton, Devon, United Kingdom, with his brothers, fellow musicians Seth Lakeman and Sean Lakeman. He currently lives in Frome, Somerset, UK, with his wife, the award-winning Irish singer Cara Dillon, and their three children.
Sam began playing music with his parents and two brothers Seth and Sean at an early age.
As a family band they started playing at festivals, and small concerts. Lakeman and his siblings formed The Lakeman Brothers in the early 1990s – with Sam on piano/keyboards, Seth Lakeman on fiddle, and Sean Lakeman on guitar. The brothers toured throughout the UK and Europe during weekends and school holidays, performing at festivals and venues winning critical acclaim for their musical abilities, compositions and fresh arrangements of traditional tunes. The trio wrote and produced the album 'Three Piece Suite' (1994). [1]
In the late part of 1994 they were invited by two Yorkshire based singers Kathryn Roberts and Kate Rusby to join them as a backing group on a tour of Portugal. After the tour the five musicians became a permanent group and called themselves Equation. [2]
Shortly after Cara Dillon replaced Kate Rusby in the summer of 1995, the group signed a major record deal with Blanco y Negro (part of Warner Music Group) and recorded an album at Peter Gabriel's Realworld Studios in winter 1995–'96. The album, entitled Return to Me, was produced by David Bottrill. There was a single release, "He Loves Me", with an accompanying promotional video. [3] The band performed on MTV and VH1, but weeks before the release of the album the record label shelved it. It was not released in 1996, but in 2003 it saw a release under Rough Trade after Geoff Travis (the band's A+R) bought its rights.
Lakeman left Equation along with Dillon and the duo was known as Polar Star. During this time Lakeman formed a strong musical partnership with Dillon. They recorded several albums with top songwriters and producers in the UK and San Francisco, but none of this work was released. By 2000, Lakeman and Dillon had decided that they would never be able to give the label what they wanted. Circa summer 2000, Dillon and Lakeman ended their five-year relationship with Warner Music Group and signed to Indie label Rough Trade Records under the guidance of their then manager Geoff Travis. On Rough Trade Records Sam produced, co-wrote and recorded all three of Cara's albums and toured with her to promote all the releases.
Lakeman has produced, co-wrote, arranged and recorded all seven of Dillon's solo albums to date as well as featuring on piano, acoustic guitar, hammond organ, harmonium and percussion. He was co-producer and musical director on The Redcastle Sessions (DVD) and was executive producer and musical director for the DVD "Cara Dillon – Live at the Grand Opera House", he has performed, produced and mixed for a variety of artists including Seth Lakeman, Ian Anderson, and Disney. He has toured the world performing at festivals or in concert halls in Europe, China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, the US and Canada.
After completing their record contract with Rough Trade, Lakeman and Dillon formed Charcoal Records in 2008 and released Cara's fourth album Hill of Thieves in January 2009. In February 2010 It won the BBC Radio 2 Folk Award for "Album of the Year". Charcoal has gone on to release, "Upon A Winter's Night" in 2016 and "Wanderer" in 2017.
Lakeman has also produced albums for John Smith including Headlong (2017), Hummingbird (2018) [4] and The Fray (2021) [5] .
Kate Anna Rusby is an English folk singer-songwriter from Penistone, West Riding of Yorkshire, England. Sometimes called the "Barnsley Nightingale", she has headlined various British folk festivals, and is one of the best known contemporary English folk singers. In 2001 The Guardian described her as "a superstar of the British acoustic scene." In 2007 the BBC website described her as "The first lady of young folkies". She is one of the few folk singers to have been nominated for the Mercury Prize.
Cara Elizabeth Dillon is a Northern Irish folk singer. In 1995, she joined the folk supergroup Equation and signed a record deal with Warners Music Group. After leaving the group, she collaborated with Sam Lakeman under the name Polar Star. In 2001, she released her first solo album, Cara Dillon, which featured traditional songs and two original Dillon/Lakeman compositions. The album was an unexpected hit in the folk world, with Dillon receiving four nominations at the 2002 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.
The BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards celebrate outstanding achievement during the previous year within the field of folk music, with the aim of raising the profile of folk and acoustic music. The awards have been given annually since 2000 by British radio station BBC Radio 2.
Blanco y Negro Records, a subsidiary of WEA Records Ltd., was established in 1983 by Geoff Travis of Rough Trade Records and Mike Alway of él Records. Michel Duval of Les Disques du Crépuscule was also involved with the label.
Seth Bernard Lakeman is an English singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, who is most often associated with the fiddle and tenor guitar, but also plays the viola and banjo. Nominated for the 2005 Mercury Music Prize, Lakeman has belonged to several musical ensembles, including one with his two brothers, fellow folk musicians Sam Lakeman and Sean Lakeman, but has most recently established himself as a solo act.
Kathryn Roberts is an English folk singer, from Barnsley, South Yorkshire.
Freedom Fields is an album by Seth Lakeman released twice in 2006. It is his third album as a principal performer. It is named after a park in Plymouth, England, where the Sabbath Day Fight during the Siege of Plymouth is commemorated.
The Lakeman Brothers were an English folk music trio, consisting of Sean Lakeman, Sam Lakeman and Seth Lakeman. They released one album, Three Piece Suite, in 1994 before forming the band Equation with Kate Rusby and Kathryn Roberts.
Sweet Liberty is the second solo album from folk artist Cara Dillon. It was recorded at their home studio in Frome, Somerset. Similar to her debut album, Sweet Liberty was produced and recorded by Sam Lakeman, her husband and musical partner. Additional production was by John Reynolds, who also plays drums on the album and mixed it along with Alan Branch.
After the Morning is the third solo album from folk artist Cara Dillon. It was recorded at their home studio in Frome, Somerset, Mayfair Studios, Kore Studios, Amberville Studios and Sun Street Studios. The strings and brass were recorded in Prague. Similar to her previous albums, After the Morning was produced by Sam Lakeman, her husband and musical partner. Additional production was by Mike 'Spike' Drake, who also mixed the album. It features the singles "Never in a Million Years", and the double A-side of "I Wish You Well" and "This Time".
In 1990, at the age of fourteen, folk artist Cara Dillon formed a traditional Irish music band with school friends called Óige. In 1995 she joined folk super-group Equation and signed a record deal with WEA.
Hill of Thieves is the fourth solo album by Irish folk singer Cara Dillon. It is her first full-length release on Charcoal Records, the label formed in 2008 with her musical partner and husband Sam Lakeman. The album was recorded and produced by Sam and first became available in October 2008 at their live concerts. It is also the first release since she gave birth to their twin boys Noah and Colm at 26 weeks, after going into labour onstage at the Swindon Arts Centre, UK. It has been the most successful of her first four albums in relation to chart performance, entering at No. 7 in the UK Indie Album Charts
Sean Lakeman is an English folk musician and record producer.
Shrewsbury Folk Festival is an annual festival of folk and world music and traditional dance held in the town of Shrewsbury in Shropshire, England.
Joseph Francis, better known by the stage name Winter Mountain, is an English singer-songwriter, based in Cornwall. He is a multi-instrumentalist, playing guitar, bass, piano, and harmonica, whose music is predominantly indie folk/rock.
Lakeman is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
Equation were a British, young Devon-based folk supergroup formed in 1995, which combined the core talents of the Lakeman Brothers with Kathryn Roberts and Kate Rusby, later replaced for a spell by Cara Dillon.
A Thousands Hearts is the fifth solo album by Irish folk singer Cara Dillon. A Thousand Hearts features more traditional production and arrangements than her first three albums. The album contains traditional songs as well as two modern covers, "Shotgun Down the Avalanche" by Shawn Colvin and "River Run". The album was produced by Sam Lakeman, Dillon's musical partner and husband.
Upon a Winter's Night is the sixth solo album and first Christmas album by folk artist Cara Dillon. The album, produced by Dillon's musical partner and husband Sam Lakeman, features eight arrangements of traditional carols and three original compositions. The titular track “Upon a Winter's Night” was written by Sam Lakeman and the couple's son, Noah, while “Standing by My Christmas Tree” and “Mother Mary” were written by Dillon and Lakeman.
Wanderer is the seventh studio album by Irish folk singer Cara Dillon. It was released on 13 October 2017 on Charcoal Records.
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