Program #10, Sandy Denny Tribute

In this edition of Folkwave, host Ed Haber commemorates the tenth anniversary of folk singer Sandy Denny's passing by playing songs from throughout her storied career.

Sandy Denny started performing traditional folk songs alongside American-influenced folk songs in late 1965, and her first professional recordings were made in mid-1967 for the Saga label,featuring traditional songs and covers of folk contemporaries (including her boyfriend of this period, the American singer-songwriter Jackson C. Frank).

After a short stint working with The Strawbs, Denny gained recognition as a songwriter for Judy Collins' cover of her song "Who Knows Where The Time Goes" before she became known for her singing. Her star ascended as a member of Fairport Convention, with whom she appeared on three albums between 1968-1969 before forming the group Fotheringay with her future husband, Trevor Lucas.

After an aborted attempt at a second album, Denny left Fotheringay to go solo. She then turned to recording her first solo album The North Star Grassman and the Ravens. Released in 1971, it is distinguished by its elusive lyrics and unconventional harmonies. This was the first of four solo albums to be released in her lifetime.

Denny was twice voted "Best British Female Singer" in 1970 and 1971 by Melody Maker readers and, together with former Fairport cohorts Richard Thompson and Ashley Hutchings, she participated in a one-off project called The Bunch who recorded a collection of rock and roll era standards released under the title of Rock On. During this period, Denny also appeared in a brief cameo on Lou Reizner's version of The Who's rock opera, Tommy, and duetted with Robert Plant on "The Battle of Evermore" from Led Zeppelin IV, becoming the only guest vocalist on a Led Zeppelin album.

In 1974, she returned to Fairport Convention (her husband was a member at the time) for a world tour (captured on the 1974 album Fairport Live Convention) and a studio album, Rising for the Moon in 1975. Denny and Lucas left Fairport Convention at the end of 1975 and started recording what was to become her final album Rendezvous, which was released in 1977. The album sold poorly and Denny was subsequently dropped by Island Records.

Denny gave birth to her only child, a daughter named Georgia in July 1977. A UK tour to promote Rendezvous in the autumn of 1977 marked her final public appearances. Afterwards, her behavior seemed erratic, characterized by what Linda Thompson described as Denny "crashing the car and leaving the baby in the pub and all sorts of stuff" in The Guardian.

In late March 1978, while on holiday with her parents and baby Georgia in Cornwall, Denny was injured when she fell down a staircase and hit her head on concrete. Following the incident, she suffered from intense headaches; a doctor prescribed her the painkiller dextropropoxyphene, a drug known to have fatal side effects when mixed with alcohol.

On April 17, 1978, just days after Trevor Lucas took Georgia to live in Australia without telling her, Sandy Denny collapsed and fell into a coma while at friend Miranda Ward's home. Four days later, she died at Atkinson Morley Hospital in Wimbledon. Her death was ruled to be the result of a traumatic mid-brain hemorrhage and blunt force trauma to her head. She was 31 years old.

While she never garnered mass-market success during her lifetime, her reputation has grown since her passing. Music publications Uncut and Mojo have called Denny Britain's finest female singer-songwriter, and her composition "Who Knows Where the Time Goes?" has been recorded by many, including Judy Collins, Nina Simone, 10,000 Maniacs and Cat Power.

WNYC archives id: 213129