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Ralph McTell is an English singer-songwriter and guitar player who has been an influential figure on the UK folk music scene since the 1960s. McTell is best known for his song "Streets of London" (1969), which has been covered by over two hundred artists around the world.
Eurythmics were a British pop duo formed in 1980, consisting of Scottish vocalist Annie Lennox and English musician and producer Dave Stewart. They were both previously in the Tourists, a band that broke up in 1980. They released their first studio album, In the Garden, in 1981 to little success, but achieved global acclaim with their second album, Sweet Dreams (1983). The title track became a worldwide hit, reaching number two in the UK Singles Chart, and number one in Canada and the US Billboard Hot 100. Eurythmics went on to release a string of hit singles and albums, including "Love Is a Stranger", "There Must Be an Angel " and "Here Comes the Rain Again", before splitting in 1990.
Ann Lennox is a Scottish singer-songwriter, political activist and philanthropist. After achieving moderate success in the late 1970s as part of the new wave band the Tourists, she and fellow musician Dave Stewart went on to achieve international success in the 1980s as Eurythmics. Appearing in the 1983 music video for "Sweet Dreams " with orange cropped hair and wearing a man's lounge suit, the BBC wrote, "all eyes were on Annie Lennox, the singer whose powerful androgynous look defied the male gaze". Subsequent hits with Eurythmics include "There Must Be an Angel ", "Love Is a Stranger" and "Here Comes the Rain Again".
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David Samuel McWilliams was a singer, songwriter and guitarist from Northern Ireland, best known for his 1967 song "Days of Pearly Spencer".
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Songs of Mass Destruction is the fourth solo studio album by Scottish singer Annie Lennox, released on 1 October 2007 by RCA Records and 19 Recordings. It was her first album of new material since 2003's Bare and to date her most recent of original material.
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Spiral Staircase is British folk musician Ralph McTell's second album. Produced by Gus Dudgeon and released in the UK in 1969, its opening track, "Streets of London", has become McTell's signature tune. "Rizraklaru" is an anagram of "Rural Karzi". The sleeve design was by Peter Thaine, a friend of McTell from Croydon Art College.
"Nobody's Child" is a song written by Cy Coben and Mel Foree and first recorded by Hank Snow in 1949. Many other versions of this song exist.
Kirsty Anna MacColl was a British singer-songwriter, daughter of folk singer Ewan MacColl. She recorded several pop hits in the 1980s and 1990s, including "There's a Guy Works Down the Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis" and cover versions of Billy Bragg's "A New England" and the Kinks' "Days". Her first single, "They Don't Know", had chart success a few years later when covered by Tracey Ullman. MacColl also sang on a number of recordings produced by her husband Steve Lillywhite, most notably "Fairytale of New York" by the Pogues. Her death in 2000 led to the "Justice for Kirsty" campaign.
"Days of Pearly Spencer" is a 1967 song written and originally performed by Northern Irish singer-songwriter David McWilliams, and included on his second album David McWilliams Vol. 2. Although it charted in several countries in continental Europe and in Australia, the original version was not a chart success in either the United Kingdom or Ireland. The song was rerecorded by McWilliams with a new arrangement in his album Working for the Government (1987). In 1992, a cover version by English pop singer Marc Almond reached number four on the UK Singles Chart and number eight in Ireland.
References
- ↑ "Spiral Staircase". Ralphmctell.co.uk. Retrieved 22 August 2016.
- ↑ Ralph McTell: Streets of London. YouTube. 18 June 2009.
- ↑ McCormick, Neil. "The rock star and the prime minister". The Daily Telegraph . Archived from the original on 27 February 2010. Retrieved 11 October 2012.
- ↑ "Ralph McTell Streets of London". YouTube . Retrieved 21 November 2018.
(interview with the artist)
- ↑ "Streets of London holding on to the No. 9 slot for the 2nd and last week on Veronica Top 40". Radio538.nl. 20 May 1972. Archived from the original on 16 June 2011.
- ↑ Raven, Michael (1 April 2006). English Folk Guitar. p. 82. ISBN 978-0-906114-74-2.
- ↑ "Canon in the 1990s: From Spiritualized to Coolio, Regurgitating Pachelbel's Canon". Drownedinsound.com. 30 April 2013. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
- ↑ "Sold on Song: Streets of London". BBC. Retrieved 16 February 2009.
- ↑ "Certified Awards Search: Streets of London". Bpi.co.uk. Retrieved 22 September 2009.
- ↑ "RPM Magazine - Page 28".
- ↑ "Raffi - Good Luck Boy". archive.org. Retrieved 19 October 2014.
- ↑ Raggett, Ned. "Anti-Nowhere League - We Are... The League". AllMusic.com . Archived from the original on 2 July 2022. Retrieved 7 July 2022.
- ↑ "Streets of London". Crisis.org.uk. Retrieved 24 November 2018.
- ↑ "Official Physical Singles Chart". Officialcharts.com. Retrieved 6 December 2018.
- ↑ Keane, Fergal (26 March 2020). "Ralph McTell gives hit song a coronavirus update". BBC News.
