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MacColl's creativity came to her at an early age, influenced by her late father, Ewan MacColl, a folk revivalist, and her mother, Jean, who was a choreographer. She grew up listening to the Beatles and Frank Zappa and eventually folk music. Her "big break" in the business came in 1981 when, while signed to Polydor, she had a Top-20 hit in England with the infamous There's a Guy Down the Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis. That led to singer-actress Tracey Ullman discovering one of MacColl's compositions, They Don't Know, and scoring a Top-10 hit in England and America a few years later. She also won rave notices for her version of Billy Bragg's A New England and a duet with the Pogues on Fairytale of New York, one of the biggest U.K. Christmas records ever. Through it all, MacColl has accepted the fact her melodic and clever lyrics don't fit into mainstream radio formats. "I've never fit in anywhere", she says with a laugh, "but I enjoy what I do now more than ever and actually revel in being unique."

MacColl is married to producer Steve Lillywhite, who mixed all of the Titanic Days tracks. [Editor's note - Kirsty and Steve split in 1994 but remained good friends]. "He's very critical and some days he's on your back, getting you to play better, but his opinion is very important to me. It's funny, Steve and I bought the same first single. It was Keep On Running by the Spencer Davis Group. That was the first thing I ever bought when I was 5. I should probably make up something really cool, but my first concert was Focus, the Dutch group. Luckily, punk rock came along and I wised up."

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