Connections: M is for ...

Blanche McAdorey (1+) Connecting in 1979. Singer.

Backing vocals on Desperate Character album. Nothing else is known of her. In a most probably unrelated incident, in the mid 80s Canadian singer-songwriter Michelle McAdorey (Crash Vegas) allegedly met Kirsty and asked her to do some backing vocals for her. We're not sure if anything came of this though.

Ewan MacColl (1+) Songwriter & Singer (and father).

Ewan Ewan MacColl was one of the architects of the folksong revival. Whether as an interpreter of ancient ballads or as a writer of new songs, he influenced almost everyone involved in folk music in the 1950s, '60s and '70s. He brought the same skill and understanding to songs of Britain's industrial cities, ballads of Scots history and lyrics from the English countryside. Many of his own compositions have passed into the common currency of folk music.

He was born Jimmie Miller in Salford, Lancashire, in 1915 to William (an iron-moulder, militant trade-unionist and communist who had left his native Stirlingshire in his mid-twenties) and Betsy (from Auchterarder). Both parents were active left-wing socialists and from his earliest days, MacColl was familiar with the cut-and-thrust of political discussion and argument. Equally important in the life of the household were the songs and stories his parents brought from Scotland - a huge repertoire with which his father and mother kept themselves and their friends entertained.

After an elementary education, MacColl left school in 1930. The Great Depression was in full swing so he went straight into the army of the unemployed. He joined the Workers' Theatre. Finding it too pedestrian for his revolutionary consciousness, he left and formed his own agit-prop street-performing group, the Red Megaphones. At one period he was engaged in writing satirical songs and political squibs in verse for newspapers. In 1934 he married Joan Littlewood, a young actress, and they set up a workers' experimental theatre in Manchester, The Theatre of Action - the first of several theatre ventures leading to Theatre Workshop in 1945. They travelled for seven years and a number of MacColl's plays were performed abroad and translated into German, French, Polish and Russian. By this time, enamoured with the Lallans movement in Scotland, he (like many other Scots-born writers) had changed his name from Jimmie Miller to Ewan MacColl, a name by which he was known for the rest of his life.

In 1950, he married the dancer Jean Newlove, with whom he had two children, Hamish and Kirsty. MacColl began to turn his attention to traditional music, and was soon playing a key role in initiating and extending what is now called "the folksong revival" in Britain. He was among the first to recognise the importance of the folk club as a basic unit in that revival, a unit without which the movement might never have made a significant impact. In London, he founded (with Alan Lomax, Bert Lloyd, Seamus Ennis and others) the Ballads and Blues Club, later to become the famed Singers Club. The club opened in 1953 and closed in 1991.

In 1956, he met Peggy Seeger and they embarked upon a life partnership. Between 1959 and 1972 they had three children, Neill, Calum and Kitty, all of whom are singers and musicians. Peggy and Ewan became a well known singing duo. They gave concerts, conducted workshops and toured in Britain and abroad as singers of traditional and contemporary songs from 1957-1989.

MacColl wrote scripts and music for BBC films, for commercial television and stage. In 1965, he and Peggy Seeger founded the Critics Group, a loosely organised company of revival singers who trained in folksinging and theatre techniques, with a view to forming a base from which a folk theatre could be developed. MacColl and Seeger collected extensively from traditional singers in Britain. As a songwriter, MacColl is best known as the author of The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, Dirty Old Town, The Shoals of Herring, Freeborn Man and The Manchester Rambler. He has written more than 300 songs.

In 1979, he suffered the first of many heart attacks. The next ten years saw a steady deterioration in his physical condition, but he continued to work, tour, lecture and write songs. In 1980, he wrote his last play, The Shipmaster, the moving story of a sailing ship captain who cannot adapt to the coming of steam. On October 22 1989, he died of complications following a heart operation. He was awarded a posthumous honourary degree by the University of Salford in 1991.

For sixty years he was in the cultural forefront of numerous political struggles, producing plays, songs and scripts on the subjects of apartheid, fascism, industrial strife and human rights. It has been said that he was an enormous fish in a small pond - but the ocean of traditional song and speech upon which he navigated and hunted owes him a great debt for the treasures that he returned to it.

Source: www.pegseeger.com by kind permission

Hamish MacColl (1+) Connecting from 1982 to 1999. Songwriter.

Kirsty's brother has collaborated occasionally with Kirsty over the years. He was the co-author of Roman Gardens, played keyboards on The hardest word and has appeared live in benefit gigs with Kirsty. His record collection inspired the young Kirsty, wasn't it Hamish who really owned that copy of Good Vibrations ?

Jean MacColl. Mother & Campaigner.

Jean Known as Jean Newlove within the theatre & dance world, Kirsty's mother Jean was so angry with the legal proceedings in Mexico after Kirsty's death that she set up the Justice For Kirsty Campaign to generate publicity about the perceived injustices being carried out (see www.justiceforkirsty.org). She is pictured making her case at the Edinburgh TV Festival in 2004.

Kirsty MacColl

Kirstee! Acoustic Guitar on Dancing in limbo
Autoharp on Maybe it's imaginary, Fifteen minutes, In these shoes?, Head
Bass on Dancing in limbo
Electric Guitar on Dancing in limbo
Guica on Não Esperando
Guitar on We'll never pass this way again, Angel, Bad
Keyboards on Children of the revolution, Can't stop killing you
Lap Steel on Fifteen minutes, Don't come the cowboy, Celestine, Não Esperando
Percussion on Fifteen minutes, Dancing in limbo
Production of Tomorrow never comes with Mark Nevin
Production of Caroline with Vic van Vugt
Production of Perfect Day with Boz Boorer
Musical Goddess.
Very sadly missed.

Neill MacColl (1+) Connecting in 1999. Singer, Guitar.

Kirsty's half brother was the co-author of Golden heart. Neill formed Liberty Horses with brother Calum, and sister Kitty on backing vocals. They recorded one album, Joyland in 1993. He has also appeared as part of Gary Clark's project King L, who released one (excellent) album, Great day for gravity in 1995. Recently he has played with Dave Gilmour's live band alongside Chucho Merchán. He played guitar at the live tribute concert.

Anna McGarrigle (1) Connecting in 1989. Songwriter & singer.

Anna Kate and Anna McGarrigle are Canadian singers, musicians and songwriters of international reputation. Songs they have composed have been widely recorded by other artists, including Linda Ronstadt, Judy Collins, Emmylou Harris and Nana Mouskouri. Kate and Anna were born in Montreal of mixed English and French Canadian background, and grew up in the Laurentian Mountains village of Saint-Sauveur-des-Monts, Québec. They took piano lessons from the village nuns, while family singing sessions around the living room piano were a regular habit.

In the 1960s, Kate studied engineering at McGill University, and Anna painting at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Montreal. At the same time, they became stars on the city's folk music scene, and soon began to compose their own songs. When some of these songs found their way into the repertoires of established artists, Kate and Anna were invited to record their own album in 1976. The elegance of their vocal harmonies, and the variety and originality of their music, delighted critics and fans alike, and the album earned international praise. One of the songs was Complainte pour Ste. Catherine;, written by Anna with Philip Tatarcheff - and of course covered by Kirsty on Kite.

Other great albums have followed, including Dancer with bruised knees, French record, Heartbeats accelerating and Matapedia. Kate and Anna have composed and performed music for several movie and television productions, including a number by the National Film Board of Canada. They were themselves the subject of an NFB, film, directed by Acadamy Award nominee Caroline Leaf. They have been profiled by CBC and CTV television in Canada, appeared on Saturday Night Live and the David Letterman Show, sung in the Public Broadcasting System fundraiser, Songs of the Civil War, and starred in their own PBS special, with Linda Ronstadt and Maria Muldaur as guests. In 1994, Kate and Anna were awarded the Order of Canada. But never mind all that - if you've never heard any of their work, correct this at once, they are divine!

Shane MacGowan (1) Connecting in 1979. Songwriter & Singer.

Shane Shane was born on Christmas Day in county Tipperary. His mother was a singer and traditional dancer; his father was interested in literature and writing. They lived in a farmhouse until Shane was six, when they moved to London. In 1971 he got a schoolarship and was accepted into a top public school. Shane was caught in posession of drugs and was kicked out after a year. In 1976 he saw The Sex Pistols (of course) and became part of the punk movement. He formed the Nipple Erectors with friend Shanne Bradley (later in The Men They Couldn't Hang). The line-up was constantly changing and included guitarist James Fearnley (later in The Pogues) and drummer Jon Moss (later in Culture Club). At the same time as Shane was in The Nips he also played guitar in the Millwall Chainsaws which featured Spider Stacy.

The Millwall Chainsaws became the prototype to what would ultimately become the Pogues. In spring 1981, inspired by The Dubliners, they renamed themselves The New Republicans. Shane began writing new songs (which sounded like standards immediately) like Streams Of Whiskey and he and Jem Finer began rehearsing together in 1981. They tried busking, but they didn't do well. In Covent Garden a man told them: "Very few people have come here and failed what we like to call The Covent Garden Seal Of Quality. I'm sorry, you have failed." Shane and Jem recruited Spider Stacey, Andrew Ranken, James Fearnley and John Hasler on drums. Spider then came up with Pogue Mahone, gaelic for "kiss my arse", and it stuck.

Via a string of top albums from the raw power of Red roses for me through the classics Rum Sodomy & the Lash and If I should fall from grace with God to the post peak moments of Hell's ditch and Peace and love the Pogues grew in stature and Shane became acknowledged as a great Irish songwriter, acclaimed by such top names as Christy Moore, who declared that Pair of brown eyes was one of the best sounds he had ever heard. Shane and the band were instrumental in Kirsty's career. It was on stage with the Pogues that Kirsty overcame her legendary stage fright and joined in with the general malarkey. It was also with Shane that Kirsty achieved her best UK chart position with the seminal Fairytale of New York.

According to Shane, "I first got to know her when her husband [Steve Lillywhite] was trying to produce If I Should Fall From Grace With God.. We had a long chat down at the studio, when she was as out of it as I was." MacColl’s version of events is slightly more sober. "I met the Pogues as we shared the same manager for a while. When I was asked to sing it, I was a bit dubious as I had a fear of folk music that only someone with a folk-singing parent could have. But I said I’d give it a go, and if they didn’t like it, they could get someone else. They liked it." MacColl ended up singing backing vocals throughout that album, the Pogues’ Island debut, with the beautiful Lorelei wringing just as impressive a performance from the MacGowan-MacColl team as Fairytale itself. Kirsty even sang backing to Dirty old town on stage with the Pogues, a song written by her father. According to interviewer Gilbert Blecken, Kirsty found it a cathartic experience after her childhood experiences.

These days, Shane produces the occasional release with the Popes, most enjoyably the album The Snake and periodically a drunken live appearance. People have been saying for years he'll drink himself to death, but he's still with us so far!

Robbie McIntosh (3) Connecting in 1989. Guitarist.

Robbie Robbie is one of the most highly prized sideman among the top names in the business. After five years with The Pretenders, six with Sir Paul McCartney (connecting with Judd Lander on Flowers in the Dirt along the way) and numerous minutes with the likes of Cher, Celine Dion, George Martin, Paul Young, Joe Cocker, Phil Collins, Tears for Fears, Talk Talk, Paul Carrack, Annie Lennox and Carl Perkins, you've almost certainly heard his work. He's performed in major venues all over the globe and has played at the Greatest Show on Earth - Live Aid. He is, in the ears of those who know, the guitarists' guitarist.

For Kirsty, he played guitar on Free world, Mother's ruin and Fifteen minutes.

Ben Mandelson (1+) Connecting in 1979. Fiddle.

Recently touring as one of Billy Bragg's Blokes, Ben is also consultant/director of GlobeStyle Records - opening new frontiers for globe-spanning music, with a roster that includes Laver Bariu, Ferus Mustafov, Ofra Haza, Shoukichi Kina, and Orquesta Ritmo Oriental. For a number of years, he was also the director of the annual WOMEX conference on world, roots, folk, ethnic, traditional, and local music.

Ben the musician is Mr. Virtuosity - violin, guitar, hawaiian guitar, mandolin, melodeon, dobro-bass, banjo, harmonica, bügeleiser, Turkish and Greek instruments such as the bouzouk, cümbüs, and baglama, hybrid instruments of his own invention, such as the barizouki and resozouki. The man's talents go on and on! Check out Mary Huey's excellent site for more details on all things Ben, Bragg & Bloke.

Ben has performed in and with a number of other bands. In another life, he was a guitarist for Magazine on their last album, Magic, Murder, and the Weather (1981). He has also played guitar in the Orchestra Jazira, and worked with ex-PiL bassist Jah Wobble on Body Music Mokili, bluesman Corey Harris (who has toured with Billy Bragg & the Blokes), the Pogues and Shriekback. In an early incarnation, a certain Benno Mendelson played fiddle in the Amazorblades.

His rather modest contribution to Kirsty's body of work was in playing fiddle on Desperate Character.

José Mangual Jr. (2) Connecting from 1989 to 1991. Bata.

Jose A session musician who played on David Byrne's "Rei Momo" before contributing bata to The hardest word and My way home for Kirsty.

Jose Mangual, Sr. was one of the most talented and respected bongo players in the world. At the urging of his father, Jose Jr. attended business school and City College in New York City. Not surprisingly, though, music was in his blood, and he soon heeded its call and left the business world. Jose Jr., first played with Mongo Santamaria through whom he met Hector Levoe. Hector invited him to play straight bell and sing with Willie Colon, an idea Jose liked as it was something different from what his famous father did. This responsibility soon enabled the younger Mangual to establish his own identity among his fellow musicians, as well as with the public. "Up until that point I was always referred to as "Mangual's son," Jose, Jr. recalls. Working with Willie Colon peaked Jose, Jr.'s interest in teaching. After the shows, young musicians would ask him how to play certain rhythms, and he welcomed the opportunity to educate them.

In 1979, Jose, Jr. recorded Understanding Latin Rhythms, one of many sessions organized and funded by LP's Chairman and Founder, Martin Cohen, that have now been released on compact disc. This recording experience gave Jose the momentum he needed to pursue teaching, a practice which he continues today internationally, mainly in South America.

Johnny Marr (11) Connecting in 1991. Songwriter & Guitarist.

Johnny Co-author of Walking down Madison, Children of the revolution, The end of a perfect day, You and me baby, You just haven't earned it yet baby (with Morrissey), Can't stop killing you. Guitar on Walking down Madison, Children of the revolution, Days, What do pretty girls do?. Electric Guitar on Mother's ruin, Days, No victims, Tread lightly, What do pretty girls do?, The end of a perfect day, You and me baby, You just haven't earned it yet baby. Keyboards on Walking down Madison, Children of the revolution.

The guitarist was most famously one of the twin pillars of one of the most celebrated of British bands, the Smiths. When they broke up in '87, Marr immediately went on to tour with the Pretenders, did session work for Bryan Ferry and Talking Heads, completed a side project with Bernard Sumner from New Order, and worked with The The. Most recently he has been contributing to the Pet Shop Boys Release tour.

Rather than "guitar hero," Marr prefers to see himself as an accompanist. "I'm no acrobat and I don't want to be," he declares. "I find all that virtuoso posturing really dated and hackneyed. It isn't even real virtuosity. It's just hold-over from the '60s. What I'm trying to bring to my guitar playing, and what I stand for as a guitar player now, is being a young guy in 1990."

As Marr explains it, his love for broadly strummed acoustic chords comes as a direct result of his rejection of the hip music of his youth. "I was quite old-headed and had very unfashionable tastes when I was growing up," Marr smiles. "When punk happened in '76, I was 13, and to me it just meant a lot of bad groups on Top of the Pops. All the bands around then, like the Jam, I couldn't find any real intensity there. I got into all kinds of stuff like Richard Thompson and all these really old fashioned folkie things, like John Martyn."

Given the tumult of the last few years of the Smiths, it's no wonder Marr didn't want to get into another group right away. "After the Smiths, I just wanted to be a session player," the guitarist explains. Marr was pleased with his work with the Talking Heads. He contributed to two tracks on Naked, and appeared in the video for Nothing but Flowers. (alongside Kirsty). "I think the song Cool Water on that album was one of the best things I've ever done, because I didn't know what I was doing," Marr smiles. "David (Byrne) brought certain things out of me which were really good. It was like a Bo Diddley song. In the late '80s if a band wanted a Bo Diddley vibe, they'd bring in Johnny Marr, which is great. That's a kick."

Marr got an even bigger kick out of his next project - joining the Pretenders. Though he only recorded the Windows of the world single (and the B side, a cover of the Stooges' 1969) with the group, Marr loved touring with Chrissie Hynde nonetheless. "I was really influenced by Jimmy (Honeyman) Scott (the Pretenders' late guitarist). I used to warm up with the solo in 'Kid,' and I still warm up with it now, so I knew that inside out. To learn 35 songs in two weeks and play behind Chrissie Hynde was a joy for me." Just as Marr was through touring with the Pretenders, Matt Johnson contacted him about forming a group with the very people Marr had earlier considered for a band. "Matt pulled in David Palmer, James Eller and me independently, so the three of us found ourselves together and figured it had to be the most natural thing in the world. Also, what Matt said he wanted in a guitar player sounded perfect to me."

About Kite, Marr said "For a guitar player, it's an incredible album. I wrote three tracks and play on nine. On two other tracks I play with Robbie McIntosh (of the Pretenders) and Dave Gilmour. Me and James and David play on it. We really are the session cats. Honestly, Kirsty at this point is very close to Morrissey. Right now, I think she's saying better things. There's a freedom about her. People have this idea of her as a superstar housewife, as just the wife of Steve Lillywhite who's got some famous friends and doubles at making records. That isn't the way it is at all. She's a fantastic writer. She's really funny and, again, she's really tortured. If she'd been a guy, her record would've been out in America already. Bono once said to me, 'Kirsty's got the soul of a poet' and she does."

Performed You and me baby and Tread lightly in the live tribute concert, backing David Gray on Walking down Madison.. Thanks to HK for the corrections.

Matchbox (1) Connecting in 1979. .

Connecting in 1983 Kirsty sang backing vocals on the single I want out Matchbox were a British group who had 5 Top 30 hits in the UK prior to this release. Biggest hit was When you ask about love but most people will only remember Rockabilly Rebel, their debut hit. This single features Kirsty sharing lead vocals with Matchbox singer (Brian Hodgson?)

Chucho Merchán (2) Connecting from 1999. Bass guitar.

Chucho! Connection-wise, his work with Sam Brown brought Chucho alongside Mark Berrow, Gavin Wright, Dave Gilmour (Sam worked with Pink Floyd as well), Guy Barker and Ben Cruft. He played with jazz act Working Week along with Guy Barker and Kim Burton. He appeared alongside Jody Linscott and Gilmour again with Pete Townshend at the Rockpalast and with Phil Manzanera back in 1991 with Bosco de Oliveira, Guy Barker and Phil Todd. He played double bass on Billy Bragg's album William Bloke, and appeared on Bond's debut album along with Michèle Drees and Phil Todd. Recently Chucho worked on Dave Gilmour's live dates alongside Neill MacColl.

For Kirsty, he contributed bass on Here comes that man again and double bass on Designer Life in addition to his sterling service with her Tropical Brainstorm touring band. His flamboyant style (and dress sense) endeared him to everyone who witnessed the tour. Top man.

When Kirsty was interviewed by Jools Holland on Later, this exchange ensued:

Jools: 'Now, he's been on the show a few times.' Kirsty: 'He's been on with everybody'. Jools: 'He might have been on more than anybody, because he's been on with all sorts of people, and sometimes stood in when other people weren't there'.
Kirsty: 'Sometimes, he was on the show and nobody knew he was even here'. Jools: 'He's been on the show when we haven't even had a show!' Kirsty: 'Exactly'.

Mint Royale (1) Connecting in 2000. Remixers.

Remixers of In these shoes?

Malcolm Morley (1+) Connecting in 1979. Guitar.

Guitar on Desperate Character, he also appeared with Man and Bees Make Honey.

Morrissey (4) Connecting in 1989. Songwriter & Singer.

Stephen Patrick Co-author of You just haven't earned it yet baby (with Johnny Marr) . Kirsty sang backing vocals on Interesting drug and the Smiths tracks Ask, Golden lights and an uncredited appearance on Bigmouth strikes again. It has been rumoured that she hoped to record Perfect Day with him but it ended up as Evan Dando instead. In fact it was Morrissey who came up with the idea apparently.

Alison Moyet (1) Connecting in 1991. Singer.

Kirsty sang backing vocals on the album Hoodoo, which was produced by Pete Glenister. French & Saunders appeared in her video

Frank Murray: Manager.

Frank is a larger than life Irishman, long associated with managing the Pogues. He first met Kirsty while running the Electric Ballroom in Camden back in 1978, and became her first manager just over a year later. In those early days, Kirsty even spent the occasional night sleeping on Murray's couch. It was he who decided to "take the pressure off" Kirsty by organising her first tour in the Emerald Isle rather than the familiar English venues. Despite all the stress of singing too fast and having to perform complete sets twice, Murray later summed up the tour as "one of the funniest times of our lives".

Having overseen Kirsty's spell at Polydor (which included the shelved Real album), Murray persuaded Dave Robinson at Stiff to re-sign Kirsty (and persuaded Kirsty that it "was the best deal on the table"). His influence extended to setting up a social meeting with Jim Kerr and Simple Minds, which led to working with the band and of course meeting Steve Lillywhite. By the end of the 80s however, Kirsty and Frank had drifted apart, with only the occasional vocal session keeping her busy and interrupting her life as an attentive mother. In any case, Murray was busy with a Pogues outfit at the top of their game, so for the Electric Landlady era, Steve Lillywhite's then manager Ian Wright took over as her manager.

Jon Moss (0+) Connecting in 1981. Drums.

Jon was part of the touring band in Ireland, along with Terry Woods , Gavin Povey and Lu Edmunds. He was later the drummer with Culture Club.

Connections: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W

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