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| Michelle
Hicks
- singer,
workshop
leader |
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| Scottish
Roots... |
| I come from a large and
vibrant Scottish family and I can never
remember a time when music wasn’t
around me. |
| Growing up in Dundee,
family gatherings were always lively
affairs and usually featured each of
us doing our ‘turn’: my
uncles with their guitars, cousins who
wanted to be Elvis, my Great-Grannie
with her booming, cracked voice (she
was in her 80’s by then) singing
the street songs and popular standards
of her youth. Even the very young could
not escape. My brother Tony and I had
to have our party pieces ready for show. |
| Early public performances
were with the Church and School choirs.
As we were a Catholic community, many
of the songs were in Latin, quite a
challenge at 7 years old! My proudest
moment was singing for the Lord Provost’s
Carol Concert at the Caird Hall in Dundee. |
| By my 11th birthday we
had moved to Scunthorpe – that
well-known musical centre – where
South Humberside County Education Authority
had an excellent schools music service
(and it was free). There I learned Recorder,
Oboe, played in a whole range of orchestras,
bands and groups and also had the opportunity
for free singing lessons. |
| I learnt a lot about discipline and
technique, but soon discovered that
classical singing did not feed my soul
like the music I had heard from my family
(although at the time I was unaware
it was connected at all with ‘Folk’
music). |
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| Yvette
and the Folk Scene... |
| After a few attempts at
the typical teenage rock bands and a
pairing with a guitarist friend to arrange
my early song writing attempts, I thankfully
met Yvette, and things started to make
sense, musically speaking. And thence
my initiation into the English folk
scene... |
| We had a few rehearsals
and then my first ever trip to a folk
club (Royal Oak, Grimsby…if I
remember rightly). Then, much to my
delight (and horror) we were off to
Shropshire to do a concert with Dave
Burland that was broadcast on the local
BBC radio station! Scary stuff for a
young lass (a mere 19 years of age).
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| From there it went from strength to
strength, with festival bookings and
our Friday night live music club in
Brigg. By the end of the year we had
recorded an album (Heroines) and found
ourselves with an agent (in the from
of the recently retired Henry Kipper).
Things just got busier and busier –
folk clubs, festivals in the summer,
radio play (most interestingly on the
BBC World Service). |
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| Making
Moves... |
| Several moves later saw a break
to Roots Quartet activities for a while. I
had busy student things to do, getting drunk,
missing lectures, sleeping…oh, and writing
my dissertation. A year in Newcastle to complete
my studies and working in Middlesbrough for
several years, gave me the opportunity to
experience the North East’s folk scene,
and has very much influenced how I view traditional
song and my choice of material. I formed many
strong friendships with the people on the
scene, and it will always be a place of very
fond memories for me. Being so close to Scotland,
in location and in character, inspired me
also to explore my Scottish roots, in particular
songs connected with Dundee. |
| A move to London put Yvette
and I in closer and more practical contact
and enabled Roots Quartet to work professionally
again, returning to singing together with
a more assured and sensitive approach to the
music that we make. |
| The beauty of Somerset called
to me and it seemed the natural next step
to approach Roots Quartet as a full-time concern.
Moving here has allowed us much more scope
in terms of time and our ability to focus
on existing and future projects. So do look
out for our various musical adventures, we'll
be having fum with them, I hope you might
too! |
Michelle Hicks
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